Felony charges have been filed against two suspects arrested in Antioch over the weekend with hundreds of pieces of mail stolen from Lake County residents.
Kristin A. Siminak, 34, of the 26000 block of West Lakeview Avenue in Ingleside, was charged with three counts of forgery, identity theft, theft, possession of drug paraphernalia and mail fraud.
Steven R. Hook, 37, of the 41600 block of Dot Place in Antioch, was charged with identity theft, two counts of theft and possession of drug paraphernalia.
On Friday, the Antioch Police Department received a report from a resident in the 400 block of North Avenue in Antioch.
The resident reported they placed a check in the mail for a donation to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.
The check was manipulated and deposited into a mobile app account, police said.
The check was believed to have been stolen from the mailbox and forged by someone.
Later in the evening, a resident in the Heron Harbor subdivision in Antioch reported seeing an older Dodge Caravan driving around the subdivision and entering residents’ mailboxes, police said.
Around 4 a.m. Saturday, another resident reported seeing the same suspicious vehicle in the 900 block of Woodland Drive.
Responding officers located the vehicle, a blue 2007 Dodge Caravan, and took two suspects, identified as Siminak and Hook, into custody.
Officers located hundreds of pieces of mail and multiple ledgers that contained personal information of residents from Lake County and Rock County, Illinois and Kenosha County, Wisconsin.
Officers also recovered multiple electronic devices.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said on Tuesday that an investigation revealed Siminak was involved in thefts of checks from mailboxes in northern Lake County.
Siminak and others would take the stolen checks, chemically alter them, and then have them cashed for their own gain, according to Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli.
Sheriff’s detectives and Antioch police continue to investigate the thefts and future charges against additional suspects are possible, Covelli said.
Federal law enforcement at the United States Postal Inspectors Office and Federal Bureau of Investigation is also assisting in the investigation.
Siminak and Hook both remain in custody at the Lake County Jail on a $40,000 bond each.
The sheriff’s office said they recommend residents pick up their mail as soon as possible after it’s delivered and consider having mail delivered to a secure postal box or install a lock on their residence’s mailbox.