Residents of a Northeast Side neighborhood in San Antonio say thieves have been prying open their community mailboxes for months, stealing bank cards, Social Security documents, and packages — and they feel like no one is doing anything about it.
Damage and Theft
The cluster mailboxes along Sunlit Trail Drive in the Spring Meadows Ventura neighborhood show the damage: bent metal panels, crowbar marks, doors that no longer close, and handwritten dates scrawled on the side — a makeshift log of every time thieves showed up.
Ashley, a renter in the neighborhood, said the problem has escalated sharply. “It’s been really, really bad the last six months,” she said. “I’m talking about like weekly bad.”
She said thieves have become calculated, leaving junk mail behind while taking everything else. “Everything — from bank cards to Social Security papers,” Ashley said. “They leave the junk mail. If there’s one piece that everybody has, they leave that in there.”
One neighbor lost nearly $10,000 after his debit card was stolen from the mailbox and used to drain his bank account, according to Ashley. The bank ultimately reimbursed him. Another neighbor had a backpack filled with school supplies for her children stolen last weekend, she said.
Concerns and Frustrations
Emmanuel Zamora, who has lived in the neighborhood for 26 years, said the mailboxes have never had their locks changed. A few months ago, he said the post office posted a notice directly on the mailbox with a blunt message. “It said, ‘Check your mail every day — get there before the thieves do,'” Zamora said. “And that was it. Nothing’s been done.”
Zamora said the threat goes beyond stolen packages. “Whoever’s doing this knows where you live,” he said. “They know specifically what house you’re at. Who’s to say they don’t know when you’re not home, and they’re just going to go in and break your house open?”
When KSAT reached out to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, a spokesperson said the agency is “not aware of any mail theft occurring near Sunlit Trail Drive in San Antonio.” Ashley said she has documentation showing otherwise.
Ashley said she has reached out to the post office multiple times. “They have to send you an email confirmation after you do a service request. I got a lot of email confirmations stating all the mail theft,” she said.
Mail theft is a federal crime punishable by up to five years in prison and substantial fines. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service says anyone who believes they are a victim of mail theft should report it to their local police department and to the Postal Inspection Service by calling 1-877-876-2455 or clicking here.
Original reporting: San Antonio, TX News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
