LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – FOX5 has been reporting on mail theft in the valley for years.
Now, we’re hearing from one man in Summerlin who caught a thief in the act, but he says that quick encounter is something that will stay with him a while.
Our camera crew went to that neighborhood and heard from several neighbors about repeat mail theft in the area.
That early morning run-in in a gated community near Summerlin Hospital Medical Center has the man who caught the thief on camera worried about what could have happened. Take it from Scottie Cowles who got the thief on candid camera after boxing him into the mail room.
“He started going through his jacket like he was going to pull out a weapon. At that point, I just knew it’s not worth it. You hear the sad stories of a person trying to be good to humanity and they get killed over it,” Cowles said.
Instead, Cowles who’s lived in an apartment and townhouse complex near Summerlin Hospital for years called the police after confronting the alleged mail thief.
“I just wanted to let him know that he wasn’t going to get away with it.”
FOX5 reached out to Metro police about that.
The department says, “we always recommend that citizens be great witnesses and not intervene when an individual is committing a property crime.”
This is the third mail theft FOX5 has reported on in the same area, with each location only a few miles apart.
Last spring, a USPS worker was robbed of his master keys on the job in a gated community near West Charleston Blvd. and Hualapai Way. In January, we reported on a community mailbox break-in on Charleston Blvd. near the 215.
But the latest break-in on Sunday morning around 4 a.m. is hardly the only one at the same complex, according to longtime resident, Robert Mirabella.
“For the last three occasions, no one has been able to identify these individuals, and they get away,” Mirabella said.
Mirabella adds he’s thankful management has tried to stop the problem, like changing the locks on the mail room and issuing new keys to residents, but he adds more could be done.
“They’ve installed metal bars that impede access to the mailboxes, and they’ve also placed metal devices on the outside of the door lock. But apparently that’s insufficient to be able to thwart these individuals from breaking in,” Mirabella said.
Aside from the pictures sent to police and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Cowles says the alleged mail thief left something else behind.
“I guess when he was running away, he had a backpack and so he was shoving everything he had in his backpack and his backpack must’ve been open because he was scared.”
That mail trail is something investigators with the USPIS are going over right now, according to Metro Police.
FOX5 reached out to the apartment complex on adding beefed up security measures to the mailroom and we will update this story when we hear back.
If you believe you have been a victim of mail theft or fraud, you can report it here.
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