Fox Creek Estates

Resent Event on Ivan Dr.

Mailbox Thefts

About a month ago, we had placed our outgoing mail in our mailbox and pulled the red flag for pick up. The following morning, one of our neighbors had called us to inform us that they had collected our mail that had been torn and discarded just across the bridge and toward the park. Unfortunately, we had several bills that we were mailing out including our mortgage payment. Of course we both called our employers to inform them that we would be late to work so that we could immediately address the issue. We went to the police department and they instructed us to go to the post office. We went to the post office and they gave us a 800 number to call to speak to a post master. I still have that number but never did call. Basically, we were told that there was nothing that could be done until the criminals "washed my checks" and tried to use them. We had to close our checking account and have it flagged that checks were stolen. In a nutshell, we were kind of on our own.

So then, we went to the area by the bridge that our neighbors found our mail to see if there were any other pieces that we could recover. We successfully recovered at least a piece of each bill we were paying except for our mortgage. All of the checks were for small amounts except for our house payment. We did not recover a piece of the check, payment stub, or envelope from that payment. What was troubling is that we also collected pieces of other peoples' mail. There was one that we could identify and notify the people it was stolen from. All of the rest was either too degraded or too destroyed for it to be identified.
We surely want everyone to be aware that our mailboxes are not safe. I did discuss with the post office that I would prefer to have the grouped mailboxes that I have seen in other neighborhoods. I know it is not the most convenient but it certainly has to be more secured. The post office told me that we would have to get neighborhood compliance and the more people that are interested, the cheaper the cost. I know I am interested. You really don't think about having your mail stolen as a serious violation until it happens to you. They have my name, address, phone number, bank account number, mortgage account number, and numerous other details. It's down-right terrifying.