Couple Arrested For Mail Theft & Check/Gift Card Fraud

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Holly Hill, FL - A couple finds themselves in jail after the boyfriend tries to cash a stolen check with stolen mail in their car.

According to the report, Holly Hill police arrested 43-year-old Gary Lee and 32-year-old Brittany Caprilozzi after officers find their car full of stolen mail, but not before they were tipped off about Lee cashing a fraudulent check at Wells Fargo.

Close to ten o'clock this morning (December 3rd), Holly Hill police responded to a fraud complaint at the Wells Fargo branch located off of 1600 Ridgewood Avenue, where they made contact with one of the bank's employees.

She told officers that a white male, later identified as Lee, entered the bank and tried to cash a $600 check. When he approached the counter, he presented the check and a Florida driver's license.

She told police that he looked nothing like the picture found on the license.

After speaking to Lee, the employee then contacted the check owner, who confirmed that the check was stolen from a vehicle burglary that happened back on November 26th at their home in New Smyrna Beach.

The employee eventually returned the license given to her by Lee and told him that she could not cash the check he brought her. That's when Lee got nervous and quickly left the bank, according to the employee.

The original owner of the check also contacted Holly Hill police to tell them one of her stolen checks were being cashed.

Not long after HHPD put out an alert for the vehicle Lee left in, officers found the vehicle around the 300 block of 15th Street. There is where officers found Lee and Caprilozzi, who was the driver.

When asked if he had identification, Lee said he didn't have any on him, which is when officers asked what he did with the license that he used at Wells Fargo. He told officers that the teller never returned it. Soon, he would be removed from the vehicle and arrested by HHPD.

When being interviewed at the traffic stop, Caprilozzi handed police the license Lee used at Wells Fargo, saying that he told her to hang on to it while they were stopped by police.

Officers also noticed the floorboard of the vehicle littered with mail. After noticing the mail, officers requested to search the vehicle, which Caprilozzi allowed.

They found mail from several address in Ormond Beach, Port Orange, Holly Hill and Daytona Beach. They also found four Visa gift cards in Caprilozzi's backpack, to which she informed officers that they were gifts and not stolen. HHPD kept the cards as possible stolen property.

When questioned at HHPD Headquarters, Lee told police that he had Caprilozzi, his girlfriend, drive him to Wells Fargo to cash the check. He admitted to filling out the blank check for $600 and forged the victim's name on it.

He also told police he knew he was committing fraud, further admitting he knew it was committing a crime using someone else's ID to identify himself. Lee also told police Caprilozzi knew the check wasn't his.

However, he denied having any information on the suspected stolen mail in Caprilozzi's vehicle, before denying that he committed any burglaries in New Smyrna.

Caprilozzi also told police that she knew Lee was cashing a fraudulent check and that she did drive him. However, she did not know that check was stolen. She also told police she knew Lee was using someone else's ID to identify himself.

When asked about the four gift cards she found, she still told police that they were gifts from her family. Police told her that two of the cards found belonged to the same victim that had the check stolen.

Lee was charged with uttering a forged stolen check, attempted grand theft and illegal use of a Florida ID. Caprilozzi was charged with fraudulent use of gift cards and petit theft.

Photo of the stolen mail is courtesy of the Holly Hill Police Department.