A 33-year-old man formerly of Tampico was taken into custody on Friday for at least 2 felony theft charges for stealing checks from mailboxes in Washington and Jackson County.
According to Washington County Deputy Sheriff Brent Miller, since then two more victims have came forward who reported having checks stolen.
“We’re in the early stages of investigation,” said Miller. “We are likely to have more victims come forward. Because some people don’t check their bank statements but only once a month, we could have several others coming to us.”
Robert Lee Hollin Jr. was identified after local checks were re-written and cashed at the Circle K in Scottsburg.
Miller said video surveillance from the Circle K in Scottsburg, as well as other Circke K locations, have clearly identified Hollin.
The convenience store contacted Indiana State Police Detective Scott Stewart, who contacted Miller.
Miller said the case was now being investigated with Stewart because it has ties outside of Washington County.
“We have checks being cashed in Jackson, Scott and Clark Counties,” said Miller. “There will be more charges coming.”
Hollen admitted to Stewart and Miller that he and his wife had stolen nor more than 20 personal checks out of mailboxes located in Washington and Jackson counties during the past month.
Miller said the checks were written to various companies or people to pay bills and were in the mailboxes with the red flag up waiting on the post office to retrieve them.
Hollin stole the checks, used White Out to cover up the names and amounts, and ‘re-wrote” the checks and cashed them at the various businesses.
Miller said Rachel D. Hollin was also arrested and is in custody in Clark County on other charges.
Robert specifically remembered taking checks out of a mailbox located on SR135 north and out of the mailbox at SR160.
Robert did say he recalled the name of a local person on at least one of the stolen checks.
Hollin further admitted that he rewrote the checks and cashed them at Circle Ks in Brownstown and in Scottsburg. A check was also cashed at the Meijer store in Jeffersonville.
Miller said a records search on Hollin Jr turned up a prior conviction for theft or conversion in Jackson County.
Miller said Deputy Andrew Mull had worked a case on Sept. 26, called to report that on Sept. 21, someone stole 5 envelopes out of her mailbox, containing five personal checks, which were issued on her personal checking account.
One of the checks had been rewritten and cashed at the Circle K in Brownstown.
No amount was given, but Miller indicated it could be in the thousands of dollars and involve more than the three current victims.
On Sept. 28, the victim’s husband called the sheriff’s department to say that four checks had been converted by merchant to electronic withdraw by Meijer in Jeffersonville.
On Oct. 8, another victimon State Road 160 came to the sheriff’s department and reported that on Oct. 6, someone had stolen 2 envelopes out of his mailbox containing 2 personal checks and that one had been rewritten and cashed at the Circle K in Scottsburg.
On Oct. 13, ISP Detective Stewart received information from the Circle K in Scottsburg regarding that victim’s check.
Miller said he was able to identify Hollin Jr and Rachel D Hollinn as possible suspects in the investigation.
On or about Oct. 14, the Hollins were located. Stewart read the rights to Robert Lee Hollin Jr. while Deputy Sheriff Miller was present.
Hollin stated he understood his rights and further signed the waiver of rights portion of the form and agreed to answer questions.
“The checks were accepted at more than one store in multiple counties and we don’t know the total dollar amount, number of checks or the number of victims,” said Miller. “Hollin admitted to driving some other county roads other than 135 and 160. My advice to the public is to look at your bank statement and if you’ve had anything suspicious in the last couple of months, call the sheriff’s department.”
The tip line is 812.883.5556.
Also, Miller said if neighbors notice someone getting into a mailbox and it looks suspicious, give the sheriff’s department a call.
