SPOKANE, Wash. – A suspected thief walked away with thousands of dollars after using a key that unlocked a crime spree across Spokane County.
Brian Hayden allegedly went on a crime spree of mail theft for nearly five months, going through Spokane County and mainly targeting Greenacres and Spokane Valley.
Federal investigators say he targeted large group mailboxes, stealing hundreds of pieces of mail from May to the beginning of October.
His weapon was a small key police found in his front pocket when they arrested him. The key is called an arrow key and is designed to mimic the master key that mail carriers use to unlock almost every mailbox in the country.
But Hayden wasn’t delivering mail. He was stealing it, investigators say
Checkbooks, bank cards, and personal information – he allegedly grabbed it all, then used it to run up tabs worth thousands of dollars.
Security cameras captured his trail of financial destruction across town, leading investigators to charge him.
This isn’t Spokane’s first arrow key problem. Court documents reveal four of these keys have been found broken off inside secure mailboxes since December, scattered around the county as evidence of other break-in attempts.
Hayden now faces charges of bank fraud, identity theft and possessing a fraudulent postal key. Both federal and Spokane County courts will decide his fate.
If convicted of these charges, Hayden could face several decades in prison.
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