In what can only be described as a cross between “Catch Me If You Can” and a particularly thrilling episode of “Antiques Roadshow,” a FedEx employee’s audacious moonlighting gig has made headlines for all the wrong reasons. Meet Antwone Tate—former FedEx worker, current thief of the year, and an unlikely admirer of early 20th-century baseball memorabilia. This is the tale of a Memphis-based employee who decided to spice up his delivery routine with a self-concocted policy of “finders keepers,” targeting packages with enviable precision.
The plot, as deliciously thick as a southern gravy, unraveled when the sleuths at FedEx’s Loss Prevention team noticed some rather miraculous disappearances happening on Tate’s watch. On May 27, antennas were raised, eyebrows arched, and the missing package count was harder to overlook than a pink elephant in a sorting hangar. So began the investigation, which led officials on a trail as sparkly as Christmas tinsel and straight to a local pawn shop—a pivotal location in this treasure hunt drama.
Now, it might not surprise you that items like an $8,500 diamond ring and $14,000 worth of gold bars aren’t exactly the easiest things to offload quietly. But, managing his side hustle with all the subtleness of a marching band, Tate reportedly sauntered into this pawn shop and sold the goods using his very own driver’s license. HBO has nothing on this plot twist, where ‘using your head’ seems to have taken a permanent vacation for our protagonist.
But the story doesn’t end with just bling and precious metals. Adding a touch of sepia-toned nostalgia to his caper, Tate is also accused of pilfering a package brimming with vintage baseball cards, sending collectors nationwide into mild hysteria. These weren’t just your ordinary hand-me-down cards; amongst them was a 1915 Cracker Jack Chief Bender and the highly coveted 1933 Goudey Sport Kings Ty Cobb, elevating the total purloined value to about $6,800.
While Tate may have thought he could outsmart the system, fate—in the form of a digital trail—had other plans. Enter eBay, the digital age’s favorite marketplace-cum-evidence log, where police located the vanished cards under the username antta_57. This moniker, revealing more than a dusty diary ever could, unfurled a red carpet right to Tate’s door, perhaps reinforcing the adage that online aliases should not double as confessions.
Once the dramatic reveal was complete, the gravelly voice of justice rang through Memphis as Tate was charged with theft of property, earning him a new title and a criminal record in one fell swoop. FedEx, embracing the eternal corporate clarity of ‘don’t let the door hit you on your way out,’ confirmed Tate’s departure with a statement seasoned with disappointment and a reminder that kleptomania isn’t the magical clause hidden in employee contracts.
So, where do we go from here? As Tate swaps his FedEx uniform for something more stripey, customers are left pondering the fleeting nature of package delivery. With each tap of the tracking button, one can’t help but envisage their precious cargo embarking on an adventure worthy of a Hollywood heist film, hoping it doesn’t end up as a featured item on eBay’s afternoon auction.
For collectors and enthusiasts, the tale serves as a cautionary narrative about the ephemeral certainty of treasures tucked away in postal boxes. It’s also a pro-tip kind of alert: the next time your mail does the David Copperfield act, maybe sneak a peek at eBay, just steer clear of bids from antta_58—a name that’s etched into the annals of ‘bad ideas’ with a bold underline.
Amidst the sheen of irony and crime stopper excitement, Tate’s story stands as a reminder. It’s a nod to the steady certainty of karma and the light-speed dismantling power of digital records. And although the shimmer of diamonds and the allure of gold might feel like they outweigh morals, in the end, it’s always a fair bet to play it straight—whether in the mailroom or the baselines of life.
It’s a wild world of delivery, and sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction, with an unmistakable penchant for justice served eBay-style.
