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Man already jailed in Salt Lake charged with mail theft in Duchesne County

Posted at 4:45 PM, Dec 03, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-03 18:45:10-05

DUCHESNE COUNTY, Utah — A man who is already booked into jail in Salt Lake County has been charged with felony mail theft for an incident that occurred in Duchesne County.

According to a press release from the Duchesne County Sheriff’s Office, 51-year-old Russell Curtis Young is accused of stealing two voided checks from a mailbox in August.

Police say the two voided checks were being sent to set up direct deposits into the victim’s bank accounts, and one month after the theft the victim learned someone attempted to cash one of the stolen checks for $9,010 at a bank in the Sugar House area of Salt Lake City.

Police noted that the victim’s last name was misspelled on the check’s signature line, and they said there was handwriting over the word void in the pay to the order of line. The victim obtained the identification information used by the person who tried to cash the check, which led detectives to Young.

Young was already in the Salt Lake County Jail, and he told police he is homeless and denied any involvement in the mail theft. Police say they showed Young’s photos to witnesses in the mail theft case, and those witnesses said they recognized Young as a “homeless looking individual” who had been frequenting the Duchesne County area around the time of the theft.

Young pleaded guilty in November to forgery and failure to stop at the command of police, and two new cases were filed against the man by the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s office relating to forgery and theft by deception.

The arrest warrant issued by Duchesne County is to make sure Young is not released from the Salt Lake County Jail before he makes his first court appearance for the mail theft case, according to the press release.