Tax refund checks, credit-card statements, bank records and new driver's licenses are among the hundreds of pieces of mail a woman and man are accused of stealing out of mailboxes across the Twin Cities area.

Ariane M. Swanson, 30, and Nauras S. Alameri, 25, have been charged in Ramsey County District Court with check forgery and mail theft, both felonies.

They allegedly stole mail -- including blank checks -- from Brooklyn Park, Maple Grove, Minneapolis and Shakopee. They were nabbed April 2 after they allegedly tried to cash checks with a stolen driver's license at a U.S. Bank drive-through in St. Paul.

The pair were arrested and held briefly before being released pending further investigation. Charges were filed Friday.

Swanson, of Maple Grove, has an alleged penchant for thievery. She was charged April 24 in Anoka County with felony mail theft and possession of stolen checks after authorities in late January found mail stolen from Maple Grove, Medina, Hamel, Osseo, Minneapolis, Plymouth and Minnetonka; stolen IDs; stolen checks and drug paraphernalia in a hotel room she had rented in Coon Rapids.

She was charged April 22 in Anoka County with theft in connection with an April 20 shoplifting incident at a Kohl's store in Blaine, and she was charged Feb. 11 in Anoka County with aiding and abetting burglary and mail theft. She is due to stand trial on all those charges in October.

According to the Ramsey County complaint, Swanson and Alameri pulled into the drive-through at the U.S. Bank at 2383 University Av. in St. Paul about 8:30 a.m. April 2 and tried to cash checks for $1,500 and $800. The checks were drawn on the account of a 36-year-old Maple Grove man and made payable to a 53-year-old Maple Grove woman. The pair presented that woman's driver's license but drove away after the bank teller told them they'd have to come inside to cash a check for more than $1,000.

They returned to the same teller at 10:15 a.m. and tried to cash checks for $500 and $400. The teller stalled the pair, who drove off when police arrived.

Police stopped Swanson and Alameri's car several blocks away and found "several hundred pieces of mail ... located in the front-seat area," as well as drivers' licenses and checks, the complaint said.

Swanson and Alameri each tried to pin the crime on the other, the complaint said. Swanson said she hadn't stolen the mail but that Alameri had three garbage bags full of mail that he had put in a trash can in the alley behind his home. Alameri claimed that Swanson had brought all of the mail to the car and to his home.

According to court records, Swanson has prior convictions for theft, disorderly conduct, domestic assault and drunken driving. Alameri has several traffic offenses and a drunken-driving conviction on his record.

Pat Pheifer • 651-298-1551