HENDERSON, Nev. (FOX5) – A Cadence resident tells FOX5 she’s fed up after having her mail stolen three times in a matter of months.
Now, she believes a thief may have the master key to her community mailbox, and video from a neighbor appears to back up that theory.
Lori, who only wanted to use her first name, said since December, her designated community mailbox has been broken into three times. In that time, her drivers license and credit card have both been stolen.
“I feel violated,” Lori said. ”I should be able to keep my mail in my box as long as I want to. It’s locked.”
Lori said two of the three break-ins happened in the last two weeks. During the most recent break-in, others who share the box had their mail stolen, too.
“This is when I realized, I said, ‘They must have a master key,’” Lori said.
Neighbor, Karen Shapiro, agrees with Lori’s theory. Especially considering their mailbox wasn’t tampered with.
“Do something. Change all of our locks. Change the box. Make it so that someone can’t copy a key and pop a button and open the whole thing up,” Shapiro said, addressing the United States Postal Service.
The theft that occurred at Lori and Shapiro’s mailbox wasn’t caught on camera. Down the street, it’s a different story.
On the same street at the next mailbox over, security video from February captured a man dressed in all black with a backwards hat driving a U-Haul truck.
He appears to have a master key to the mailbox. He swings open the door, opening everyone’s mailboxes at once. Then, he tosses mail and packages on top of the box before making his escape.
Lori and Shapiro said as long as the theft continues in their community, they will be watching for their mail closely.
“I can sometimes actually hear them delivering the mail, because I’m just a couple of houses down and I come out right away now,” Shapiro said.
FOX5 reached out to USPS and USPIS about the mail theft in the Cadence community.
“The Postal Service apologizes to customers in the Henderson area for any inconvenience caused as a result of criminal activity. The U.S. Postal Service as well as the impacted customers are all victims in these acts of theft and vandalism,” said USPS Strategic Communications Specialist, Sherry Patterson, in a statement.
Both Patterson, and USPIS Postal Inspector, Trevor Hudson, pointed toward their joint initiative, Project Safe Delivery. Launched in 2023, the project aims to curb mail theft and crimes against mail carriers.
Both Patterson and Hudson added, anyone who sees a mail thief in action should call police immediately, then report it to Postal Inspectors at 877-876-2455 and say “Theft.”
Anyone who believes their mail was stolen should report it immediately by submitting an online complaint at postalinspectors.uspis.govor calling us at 877-876-2455.
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