Police charge local woman with mail theft

Black Mountain police charged a local woman on Dec. 29 with 10 counts of larceny after they said they caught her in the act.

Misty Dawn Curry, of Black Mountain, was arrested on Vance Avenue. Her mail theft case has been referred to the U.S. Postal Inspector, the law enforcement division of the U.S. Postal Service.

“We’re looking at dropping our charges in this case because this is a federal charge,” said Black Mountain police chief Shawn Freeman. “We do have a state charge for larceny, but the federal charges carry more weight.”

The majority of the charges the 24-year-old is facing “took place right around the area we caught her in,” Freeman added. But the department is investigating recent mail thefts in other areas to determine if Curry may have been involved in those as well.

“Those incidents occurred within the same time frame,” Freeman said. The department notified the Buncombe County Sheriff's Department about two homes in its jurisdiction that might also have been affected. 

Black Mountain police were notified of thefts in the area by an “alert citizen,” according to Freeman. “From what I gather our officers arrived and caught (Curry) in the act,” he said.

A video was posted Dec. 29 to  the Black Mountain Exchange page on Facebook showing a person, who Freeman said was wearing the clothes Curry was wearing at the time of her arrest, appearing to open a mailbox at the purported home of the person who posted it.

Theft or receipt of stolen mail can result in a fine and up to five years in prison.

Curry remained in the custody of the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office on a secured $8,000 bond as of Jan. 3.