Thieves Steal $40K In Checks From Tulsa Farm & Garden Store

Thieves got away with $40,000 in checks from the mail box of an east Tulsa business. The store caught it all on tape.

The theft happened at 10 a.m. Friday, April 17, 2015. A car pulled up, and a passenger snatched thousands of dollars worth of checks from the Smith Farm & Garden mailbox at 56th and Garnett.

The store's owner has a warning for others.

"Never gets out of the car," said Kris Stump, Smith Farm & Garden. "Passenger reaches out of the passenger window, pulls the mailbox and off they go."

Off they went - and $40,000 was gone, just like that.

Kris Stump and one of his employees had checks waiting to be picked up by their mail carrier on Friday until a Cadillac pulled up to their mailbox and took them.

An employee saw the whole thing happen and got the license plate number as the car sped away.

"It's a crime that causes a lot of problems," Stump said.

Stump says the thieves didn't waste any time cashing the checks.

"My personal employee here that got his personal checks stolen out of that - they were already on Saturday and Sunday writing the checks to Walmart," he said.

The car stands out. It's got mismatched doors, damage on the fender and different hubcaps.

Smith Farm & Garden now has its account flagged by the bank and fraud protection features enabled so this doesn't happen again.

And Stump doesn't plan on mailing anything out from his curbside mailbox again.

"I would say don't put your outgoing mail in the mailbox for the mail carrier to pick up, and either have a locking mailbox for incoming mail or get a post office box because I think it's going to be on the increase. The technology makes it easy for them to manufacture checks," he said.

Tulsa Police and the U.S. Postal Inspector Service are both investigating. If you see the car, you're urged to call Crime Stoppers at 918-596-COPS.