Hinsdale Carrier Held Up, $508K In Checks Later Stolen: Cops

HINSDALE, IL – A man who robbed a Hinsdale postal carrier in 2022 got a key to other mailboxes, allowing him and another man to steal more than $500,000 in checks, authorities said Friday.

Antwan Kelsor, 22, and the other man, Maurice DeLoach, 25, both from Chicago, are allowed to stay free until their trials, according to a news release from DuPage County prosecutors.

During the afternoon of May 9, 2022, the carrier was robbed at the Postal Service mailbox at Hinsdale Avenue and Stough Street, a residential neighborhood, police said.

An unknown man holding a handgun to his side approached the carrier and demanded the mailbox key, which has access to boxes in Hinsdale, Oak Brook, Burr Ridge and part of Willowbrook, prosecutors said.

After getting the key, the man ran to a black Nissan, driven by Kelsor, police said.

In the following weeks, mail thefts were reported at mailboxes in Hinsdale and Oak Brook.

Through their investigation, authorities said they determined Kelsor and DeLoach were involved in the thefts.

On June 12, the men stole mail from several Postal Service boxes, and that night, Kelsor drove the Nissan to a gas station in Oakbrook Terrace, police said. They were then taken into custody.

Officers found the stolen key and unopened mail in the car, police said.

The men deposited stolen checks into accounts and then withdrew or tried to withdraw from those accounts, prosecutors said.

They are also accused of attempting to sell the stolen checks to others. Police said the recovered checks totaled $508,714.

"Complex investigations like this aren't possible without interagency cooperation," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said in a statement. "These arrests represent our commitment to work with our law enforcement partners to maintain the integrity and trust in the U.S. Mail."

Asked about the three years until the charges, state's attorney's spokesman Paul Darrah cited "an exhaustive, labor-intensive investigation involving our office, the Hinsdale Police Department and the federal US Postal Inspection Service."

Kelsor was charged with two counts of armed robbery.

Kelsor and DeLoach were both charged with four counts of identity theft and multiple counts of defrauding financial institutions.

DuPage County Judge Joshua Dieden denied prosecutors' request to jail Kelsor before his trial.

Dieden noted the passage of time since the alleged offense and Kelsor's lack of a criminal history, according to the news release. DeLoach was released on his own recognizance.