MOUNT HOLLY N.C. — A repeat mail thief is facing charges for an alleged bank fraud scheme.
Federal investigators claim he fled to Mexico after stealing mail from Mecklenburg, Union and Gaston County mailboxes.
Channel 9 has bene on top of this case since 2018.
According to federal indictments about a year and a half ago, Erik Magana took a letter from a mailbox and used it to take money from someone.
He fled to Mexico when investigators were ready to indict him.
On Tuesday he faced a federal judge in Charlotte, a scene one neighbor said has happened too many times.
In the past Channel 9 has talked to victims and neighbors.
They described Magana‘s crimes as “concerning” and “awful.”
We talked to neighbors again on Tuesday about the man once convicted in the largest recovery of stolen mail in the Charlotte area. Magana faced a judge on the same charges from 2020.
He got out of prison in 2024, and federal agents said he hit mailboxes in North Carolina counties, including a Mount Holly community that backs up to Mount Island Lake.
David Petroski lives in that community.
“Obviously this guy thought it worth the risk,” Petroski said. “That maybe he thought his punishment wasn’t going to come out.”
Federal agents say Magana escaped to Mexico just a few months after he hit a mailbox in Mount Holly. Agents recently brought him back, and he was before a judge at the federal courthouse in Charlotte again Tuesday morning.
“When there is repeated offenders, we have to be more strict with them and take action,” said Petroski.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, Magana faces five years in prison for each mail theft charge and 30 years if he is convicted of bank fraud.
WATCH: USPS takes action after string of mail thefts with master keys
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