Plot twist: people are pretty sure it’s postal employees involved at a suburban Atlanta post office. Lots of checks stolen, some washed, doctored up, and cashed for large amounts.
Some years ago my partner got a call from his bank. Seems someone tried to cash his pay check. He asked for description of the thief and said sounds like my postman. Announced he had to take care of something, went across to the postal inspection office and he and inspector did a quick investigation and staked out the post office parking lot. When the post guy got back to the parking lot, they arrested him for mail theft and searched his car wherein they found a plethora of items purloined from the mail. “Quickest scratch I ever made” he announced the next day at the office!! Lucky for him the teller was a friend and knew the check was stolen. Kudos to her too.
As Sticks said on On Patrol, we don’t catch the smart ones!!