A fugitive from around Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana was captured fishing on Lake Sinclair last week and is in Putnam County jail awaiting extradition back to Louisiana.
Christine Denise Smith, 57, of Conyers, was arrested shortly before 2 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 16, by Putnam County Deputy Sheriff Sgt. Jeffrey Duncan.
Putnam County Sheriff Howard R. Sills said Smith, who is also known as Christine Waller, had been detained by a Georgia DNR game warden because she was fishing from the T.D. Cheek Fishing Pier without a license.
“They found out on NCIC (National Crime Information Center) that she was wanted, so they called us to come get her,” Sills said. “She was wanted in Louisiana for stealing people’s mail.”
According to a report by the NBC news station, WDSU, in Louisiana, Smith was one of five people arrested on Sept. 10 for stealing mail from residential mailboxes in several neighborhoods in Kenner, La. The Kenner Police Department was investigating the complaints when, ironically, the suspects stole mail from Police Chief Keith Conley’s home mailbox. Their vehicle was captured on the chief’s security camera footage.
Shortly after that, Conley was notified by his bank that someone was using checks from his account, according to the news report.
Sills said the Kenner Police Department had been notified of Smith’s apprehension, but he didn’t know when they would come to get her.