UPS has a worldwide reputation for delivering the goods. But in Chantilly, some of them apparently got waylaid, say police, and they believe UPS employee Lovelace Suttles is the culprit. Accordingly, they've charged him with grand larceny.
Suttles, 34, lives at 13927 Rockland Village Drive, No. 103, in Chantilly. And he's been employed by UPS (United Parcel Service) at 4455 Stonecroft Blvd. in Chantilly, for three years.
DET. RICHARD CALL of the Sully District Criminal Investigations Section, explained the case against him in a Jan. 11 affidavit for a warrant to search Suttles' apartment. He wrote that, over the last several months, the Chantilly UPS has experienced "an excessive number of internal thefts."
On Jan. 10, wrote the detective, UPS security specialist John Travis reported the theft of three, large, flat-screen television sets and three laptop computers from the Chantilly location. The theft occurred that day in the lobby area where customers come to pick up their packages.
Suttles was working in the lobby at the time of the theft, wrote Call, and "just after 8 a.m., UPS employees witnessed Suttles assisting an unknown male who was in the lobby. The unknown male did not wait in the line with other customers, and Suttles began to gather packages for [him]."
Call said Suttles actually committed "numerous, suspicious activities" that day — beginning with him coming to work Jan. 10 when he was not scheduled to work. In addition, wrote the detective, "Suttles bypassed all of the security measures of UPS when he released the six packages to the unknown male."
Suttles' other suspicious actions, wrote Call, were as follows:
* "Suttles was seen on a UPS surveillance camera picking up packages from four different shipping areas. Customers almost always only pick up packages from one shipping area.
* Suttles did not check the identity of the unknown male and he [allegedly] admits to this error. Employees are to match the shipping label of all packages with some type of personal identification. Suttles has worked at this UPS for three years and was familiar with all of the procedures.
* The packages were not scanned when Suttles gave them to the unknown male. UPS employees [reportedly] witnessed Suttles giving the packages to the unknown male without scanning [them].
* Suttles did not have the unknown male sign for the packages. Suttles [allegedly] claims he did have the person sign. The UPS employees witnessed the unknown male not signing the DIAD board, which is the electronic device used to track packages and record customers' signatures. The computer records and DIAD board indicated there was no signature, and the DIAD was working properly.
* UPS employees knew the event was suspicious because they have never seen any individual come and pick up three, large-screen TVs at one time.
* A UPS employee saw one of the laptop-computer packages and read the label. The package was to be delivered to [a specific person] in Balmoral Estates, which is a community in Clifton. It was later discovered that that was one of the missing packages which was stolen. Suttles [allegedly] became irritated when he saw the other employee looking at the package.
* WHEN SUTTLES was done with the unknown male, he then left for the day. He [reportedly] only came to work on a scheduled day off to assist the unknown male.
* Another UPS employee recognized the unknown male as someone who Suttles has waited on before. The unknown male would wait off to the side so that only Suttles could assist him."
Call wrote that both he and Travis questioned Suttles, and he allegedly claimed that all of the above inconsistencies were "due to him not feeling well, and he simply forgot to follow all of the UPS procedures. Suttles [reportedly] said the unknown male gave him the tracking numbers and he went and picked up the packages based on [these] numbers."
But, stated the detective, "There is no way a customer would be able to obtain any tracking number for anyone other than their own, legitimate package. Suttles simply went through the warehouse and [allegedly] picked up the property he wanted to give to the unknown male."
Call noted that Suttles lives in Chantilly's Rockland Village community with his girlfriend and that, "upon talking to her about this case, she [reportedly] stated that Suttles often brought home property which she thought he could not afford. She [allegedly] stated that, just last night [Jan. 10], he brought home a large-screen television set." Call wrote that two detectives invited into their apartment observed such a TV in their living room.
The detective also noted that, after checking into Suttles' criminal history, he was found to be a convicted felon for crimes of larceny.
On Jan. 11, Fairfax County police executed the search warrant at his home and seized a Philips flat-panel TV with remote, a Sharp LCD 32-inch TV with remote, a BlackBerry, four packages of Proactiv skin-care products, a Gucci watch, two Motorola V3 Razr phone carrying cases, and a Motorola Bluetooth headset.
That same day, police charged Suttles with one count of grand larceny. He was released from the Adult Detention Center the next day on $5,000 bond and has an April 16 court date.