Bartholomew County sheriff’s deputies arrested a Columbus man they found lurking around mailboxes with a flashlight on State Road 11 north of County Road 400S.
Dawyne Baker, 32, 223 Dawson St., was arrested on preliminary charges of theft and possession of paraphernalia, sheriff’s deputies said.
Deputy Adam Warner was patrolling in the area about 2:19 a.m. Wednesday when he saw a man with the flashlight and stopped to talk to him, the sheriff’s department said.
While Warner was talking, the man dropped a methamphetamine pipe, deputies said.
Deputies then found the man had a checkbook and a large amount of mail addressed to a person whose name was in the checkbook.
Baker claimed the person who owned the checkbook and mail was his cousin, deputies said.
When Warner checked with the individual, he learned that three of the man’s unlocked vehicles nearby had been ransacked.
The owner of the checkbook and mail said Baker was not his cousin and that he didn’t know him, deputies said.
Baker is being held in the Bartholomew County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bond.
