Tristen Reese

When Mammoth Cave National Park rangers stopped a speeding car on May 1, they stumbled on an unexpected jackpot in the glove compartment, reportedly finding dozens of checks totaling more than $140,000 that had been stolen from mailboxes in Bowling Green and several other cities.

The discovery resulted in the arrest of Brandon Dawkins, 26, of Lithonia, Georgia, and Tristen Reese, 26, of Durham, North Carolina, on suspicion of mail theft.

A federal grand jury will consider indictments against both men, who made appearances this week in U.S. District Court.

“This is the largest mail theft case I’ve personally seen,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Nick Rabold said during a detention hearing held Wednesday for Dawkins, who was released from jail on a $25,000 unsecured bond.

At a preliminary hearing for Dawkins, U.S. Magistrate Judge Brent Brennenstuhl heard testimony that Reese was the driver of a rental car that was stopped at Mammoth Cave for a traffic violation.

According to a federal criminal complaint, park rangers detected an odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle, and a probable cause search of the car turned up an envelope containing numerous uncashed checks from businesses and residences.

Law enforcement sorting through the envelope found 81 checks and two money orders totaling $140,147.88, the complaint said.

“A preliminary count of all the contents found within the glove compartment yielded approximately 48 commercial and personal victims,” U.S. Postal Inspector Brian Coyt said in an affidavit filed with the criminal complaint. “Based on visible information printed on the checks, they appeared to be taken from approximately 20 cities within Kentucky, Tennessee and South Carolina.”

Most of the checks appeared to be from locations in Bowling Green, Morgantown, Utica, Philpot and Owensboro, though three personal checks were from a city in South Carolina and one check was from a company in Phoenix addressed to a company in Maryville, Tennessee, court records show.

The two men claimed to police that they were traveling to Owensboro to visit Dawkins’ grandmother.

Dawkins refused to provide a name for his grandmother to law enforcement, and he and Reese both denied knowledge of the checks in the car, the criminal complaint said.

Law enforcement has attempted to contact the people who issued the checks to determine whether they attempted to mail them.

Coyt said in court Wednesday that about 20 alleged victims have been contacted.

In addition to the checks, law enforcement seized a ski mask and credit and debit cards from Dawkins and two ski masks from the car, along with two sets of work gloves and two cell phones, court records show.