Police on Wednesday morning arrested a 44-year-old Norwalk man by warrant and charged him with three felony-level offenses in connection with the theft of checks from mailboxes in New Canaan.
Wayne R. Barker of 10 Christy St. is the third and final person arrested in connection with the thefts, according to a police report.
He turned himself in to police at 6:45 a.m. on April 5 on charges of third-degree identity theft, second-degree forgery and third-degree larceny.
Police arrested two other Norwalk residents last week in connection with the crime spree.
They victimized at least nine New Canaan residents starting in December 2015, cashing checks whose combined total exceeds $31,000, and their arrest marks the culmination of a 15-month joint investigation of the police department’s Patrol and Investigative sections, officials said.
NCPD received the first complaint of a stolen check from a mailbox here on Dec. 12, 2015, according to a police report. Through their investigation, police identified three suspects involved, the report said.
The trio would steal checks that had been placed in mailboxes to be mailed and then alter the payee information (the forgery charge). Then, the checks were deposited into multiple bank accounts via a mobile device, police said.
Barker was held on $20,000 bond and scheduled to appear April 5 in state Superior Court in Norwalk.