Authorities say a retired sheriff’s deputy posed as a guest at two Phoenix-area weddings to steal boxes of cards containing thousands of dollars, and is under investigation in a series of similar crimes
Highlights
- Landon Earl Rankin, 54, was arrested Wednesday in the thefts at private venues in April.
- Rankin was a deputy with the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office, joining the agency in 1994.
- Police learned of at least seven similar crimes in other Phoenix-area jurisdictions, a spokesman says.
- Police have heard from “four or five" additional newlywed couples regarding possible additional thefts, he says.
- The two stolen boxes of wedding cards each contained between $3,000 and $6,000, authorities say.
- Police: Rankin said he attended the weddings to hear the vows “because he was going through a divorce"