A man who forged keys out of silverware in order to steal mail from apartment mailboxes has been indicted on federal fraud charges.

Adam Christopher Turner, 40, was arrested in May and indicted late last month by a federal grand jury. 

The Colorado Springs resident is accused of using his fake keys to access “cluster boxes” at apartment buildings in three cities. His break-ins have been traced back to February 2023, according to details in his indictment.

Turner was first arrested November 12, 2023 by Lone Tree PD after he used stolen credit cards at several businesses. On him, Lone Tree officers found 20 different credit cards from 20 different people. They also discovered a half dozen keys, all master keys to mailboxes, or “arrow keys.” Turner apparently had fabricated them out of dinner knives.

The Lone Tree arrest violated the terms of a deferred sentence Turner received for a burglary in 2022. But Turner only received a probation sentence for both infractions, according to the indictment. 

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Soon after his Lone Tree arrest, a detective with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office’s Financial Crimes Unit began investigating incidents in which stolen credit cards were used at Colorado Springs businesses. Ultimately, the detective learned about mailbox thefts from 16 victims in Colorado Springs, Peyton and Parker. And, as surveillance video rolled in from a number of Front Range businesses, the detective quickly identified Turner as the culprit who was using the victims’ stolen credit cards. 

A Peyton resident’s debit card was used for a $793 purchase at a Walmart in Colorado Springs. 

One Parker resident’s credit card was used to buy $3,523 in goods from Scheels in Colorado Springs. 

Another Peyton residents credit card was used to buy $3,870 of products at Scheels in Johnstown. 

Yet another Peyton resident’s Home Depot credit card was used to snag $1,086 worth.

Two victims living in Colorado Springs and Peyton had their Target credit cards used to buy a total of $2,426 and $2,517. 

In one surveillance video, the El Paso detective saw Turner leaving one store wearing a sweatshirt he had illegally purchased earlier at a different store. 

The detective also saw Turner driving a black Camaro or a black Dodge Ram pickup to the stores he visited. In one video, the pickup truck’s plates were visible. They were the plates which registered to the vehicle owned by a mail theft victim in Peyton. 

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After studying five month’s of infractions, authorities obtained a search warrant in May – three weeks after his Lone Tree sentencing – for Turner’s residence, vehicles and cell phones. 

At his residence, investigators found thousands of dollars worth of new or like-new tools, mechanical, and electrical equipment, according to the indictment. In a storage unit rented by Turner, they found eight counterfeit arrow keys co-mingled with a collection of dinner knives.   

Inside the truck was stolen mail, including gift cards and credit cards, and two more arrow keys.  

The truck was also equipped with an electronic license plate flipper. The device allowed Turner to flip the stolen license plate over the truck’s legitimate license plate while engaging in illegal activity.

Turner’s cell phone records also indicated his phone was in the area of the stores at the times the stolen credit cards were used, per the indictment.

Guns were found in the residence and in the Camaro, along with amounts of methamphetamine. Drug offenses are among the charges in the indictment. Being a convicted felon, Turner was not legally permitted to own the firearms. 

Turner made his first appearance in federal court July 8. He is already set for a trial in late August. His probation in the Lone Tree case has been revoked as well.