Man arrested for mail theft in Kootenai County gave false name to deputies

A man arrested in Kootenai County last week for multiple felonies connected to a rash of mail thefts on Hayden Lake Road gave deputies a false name, but his deception wasn’t discovered for days because he refused to allow himself to be fingerprinted.

Jesse James Melvin, 31, confessed his deception to a jail guard on Saturday, said Sheriff’s Office spokesman Det. Dennis Stinebaugh. He said he’d done it because he was wanted on warrants in Washington, Stinebaugh said.

The Spokane man originally gave the name of 40-year-old Chad A. Mosby of Spokane. He had Mosby’s Washington State identification card in his possession, which had previously been stolen.

Melvin is now facing new charges of providing false information to police and possession of stolen property.

The Sheriff’s Office sent out a news release announcing the initial arrest on April 12 that included Mosby’s name and a picture of Melvin identified as Mosby. An additional news release was not sent out when the error was discovered. Instead the Sheriff’s Office altered their original Facebook post announcing the arrest to include the correct information but did not mark it as updated or indicate that a change had been made.