SAN ANTONIO — It’s the season for shopping and thieves are ready to pounce on deliveries. Those mail thieves and package prowlers make their rounds across San Antonio all year, but with the holidays coming up, it’s important to protect orders.
Luis Maldonado is among those hoping San Antonio police can ramp up patrols in areas where mail and package theft has been reported.
Maldonado’s security cameras captured a Ford pick-up traveling down the street in the Timber Ridge neighborhood. But it wasn’t someone he recognized as the driver was masked and the vehicle had no license plates.
“Driving around the left hand side of the road and just stopping like nothing, picking up, stealing mail out of the mailboxes. It’s horrible,” Maldonado said. “They’re not worried about getting caught.”
While Maldonado wasn’t a victim this time, he has been targeted in the past.
“Checks were stolen out of my mailbox couple years ago and the persons were able to erase who was the pay to and actually increased the dollar amount to over 300 dollars on the checks,” Maldonado said.
Maldonado knows mail theft happens year-around but realizes more people, including himself tend to order online more often around the holidays.
“I just want to make everybody aware of what’s going on and the authorities need to do something,” Maldonado said.
San Antonio police do not have a team dedicated to solely investigating mail theft. But SAPD public information officer Camelia Juarez stressed the community plays an important role in helping law enforcement curb such crime.
“It’s really important to report it because investigators could find a pattern and that could help us find this person that’s potentially stealing stuff in your area,” Juarez said.
SAPD recommends residents consider arranging larger more expensive items to be shipped to the electronic code-activated Amazon lockers or their local post office to prevent theft.
"As soon as you know you get that notification that your package has been delivered and you're at home, take it in," Juarez said.
SAPD also urges residents to request signature confirmation for parcel deliveries.
Additional tips to avoid becoming a victim of mail theft can be found here.