Crime & Public Safety

Former UPS contract driver arrested, accused of stealing trailers, packages

Former UPS driver Opal Barrett was arrested in Atlanta after police said she stole two company trailers and hundreds of packages. (Credit: Atlanta Police Department)
Former UPS driver Opal Barrett was arrested in Atlanta after police said she stole two company trailers and hundreds of packages. (Credit: Atlanta Police Department)
Feb 25, 2022

A former UPS contract driver was arrested last week in Atlanta after she stole two company trailers and hundreds of packages, police said.

The discovery happened when officers responded to a Petro truck stop along Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway on Feb. 18 and saw three people “actively stealing items” from a UPS trailer, police said in a news release Friday. UPS corporate security responded to the scene and told police that the two trailers had been missing for several months.

In body camera footage, officers begin by surrounding the back of a trailer and yelling for those inside to come out. After pushing the door up, they realized no one was inside. At least two of the people were arrested near the trailers, the video showed.

Opal Stephanie Barrett, a former UPS contractor and current owner of Black Opal Cargo Solutions Inc., is thought to have gained access to the trailers and parked them at the truck stop at some point, police said. She was charged with entering auto and felony theft by taking.

Robert Carter and Enrico Hacker, who are acquaintances of Barrett, were also arrested and charged with entering auto and theft by taking, police said.

All three were found to be in possession of stolen items from the trailers at the time of their arrests, according to police.

Hundreds of packages were found inside one of the trailers, body camera footage showed. Officers did not say what Barrett, Carter and Hacker were doing with the stolen packages.

“This is like Christmas,” an officer said while in the back of a trailer.

Barrett, Carter and Hacker were given $5,000 bonds and released from the Fulton County Jail a day after being booked.

About the Author

Caroline Silva is a Breaking News reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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