JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Residents of an East Arlington neighborhood have been frustrated due to a month-long string of mailbox thefts.
At least one neighbor was able to capture the perpetrator on camera.
The Kensington Lakes neighborhood off Beach Boulevard is generally a quiet community, but recently neighbors have been waking up to open mailboxes, with mail that has been tampered with or stolen.
“The flag was still up and the mailbox was still open and there was no mail, so I know the mailman didn’t get it,” said Kensington resident Leroy Smith.
Smith had mail stolen a few weeks ago.
“In addition to that, I received a package that had my prescriptions in it and it had been opened twice and so just it is scary,” said Smith.
On the neighborhood Facebook group, there have been at least six reports of stolen mail over the past month.
In late December, a ring doorbell captured video evidence of the crime in action.
It shows what appears to be a grey SUV going house to house with the driver checking to see what they can find in the mailbox.
The same vehicle was also caught on camera by another neighbor last week.
“With the mail theft, you know, It’s one of those things where it’s kind of like hard to know that it’s actually happened to you unless it’s caught on camera or you’re expecting something that has like tracking,” said Kensington resident Craig Barnette.
Barnette has lived in the neighborhood for two decades.
He’s installed cameras on his home to try and deter the mailbox thieves from making him the next victim.
“I’ve got cameras just to be proactive about it, but I’m not like super paranoid about it, you know?” said Barnette.
Posts on the neighborhood Facebook group mention someone in an orange sports car with a European plate also stealing from mailboxes, but no footage of that vehicle has been captured yet.
Neighbors just hope by getting the word out these criminals will leave their community alone.
“You know the community here we have a good active community watch program and you know cameras everywhere. It seems like every other house now has cameras here and you know I think people will start getting the message to take it elsewhere,” said Barnette.
One neighbor we spoke with asked not to appear on camera but told us she had nursing pads stolen from her mailbox a few weeks ago.
She asked us to deliver this message to the thieves: ‘I hope you enjoy them’.
We submitted a public records request to JSO asking how many complaints they’ve received from residents in the neighborhood over the past six weeks, but we have not yet gotten a response.