A Former Destin Postal Worker Steals Mail From A 71 Year Old Victim and Cashes Check

May 2, 2017

A Destin resident is accused of forging and cashing a check that the owner believes was stolen out of her mailbox.

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office has charged 36-year old Neil Annon Mathews of 610 Sea Oats Drive with defrauding a financial institution, forging a check, uttering a forged instrument and grand theft.

The 71-year old victim says she got a call last month about a late payment and discovered her mail had been stolen. She contacted her bank and closed the account. She later learned a check had been cashed for $1000.

Investigators say the scanned copy of the cashed check was obviously forged, as it did not resemble an actual check from the victim’s checkbook. The victim’s checkbook log showed she wrote the check to the bank for an equity advance, but instead the cashed check showed the name Neil Mathews in the “pay to the order of” section.

OCSO Investigators obtained a photo from the Destin bank showing Mathews, who is a former Destin postal worker, cashing the check on April 11th at a Regions bank.

According to the Okaloosa County Jail’s website, Mathews has been incarcerated since April 18th on multiple fraudulent check charges.