Police arrested the alleged mastermind behind an elaborate mail theft scheme in Sunset Park on Tuesday.
The 25-year-old suspect was allegedly using a thin metal wire to “fish” through residential mailboxes on 40th Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues when a witness called 911 and police confronted the swindler at 2:15 a.m. on Sept. 4, cops said.
One of the arriving officers noticed the suspect’s neck tattoo matched a photo on a wanted poster for a similar crime, the officer said.
The cops cuffed the suspect, and searched his backpack — finding 11 different identifications, five social security cards, 15 credit cards, and 24 bank checks, according to authorities.
Police suspect that the alleged racketeer was stealing checks from Brooklynites’ mailboxes, before using the fake IDs to cash them at local check-cashing businesses, cops said.
Investigators did not know for certain how the suspect came into possession of the identification, but suspected their true owners may have played a part in the scheme, cops said.
The suspect was arraigned in Brooklyn Supreme Court on Wednesday and charged with criminal trespass in the third degree, possession of a burglar’s tool, and four counts of criminal possession of stolen property in the fifth degree.
He was released on his own recognizance.
