WELLINGTON, Fla. — A cluster of mailboxes at a Wellington business plaza has been robbed again and investigators hope some important surveillance video can help in the case.
After a mailbox robbery 11 months ago, the property manager of the Wellington Plaza shopping center and business park installed security cameras.
This time, video recorded images of the thief stealing mail on Oct. 2 at 11:30 a.m.
"They've been doing it for so long, and not getting caught," property manager Mary O'Neal said. "That's how bold they are."
The video shows a man wearing a hat, a COVID-19 mask, gloves, and according to one witness, a postal carrier's shirt. The person could be seen quickly rifling through three banks of mailboxes.
Patrick Price, an information technology worker, walked right by the mailbox theft while it was happening.
"Yes, I was walking to check my mail around the time I always do," Price said.
He said he became suspicious after passing the man because he noticed him wearing jeans shorts, not U.S. Postal Service regulation clothes.
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A close look at the video showed the crook was targeting the boxes for outgoing mail.
Price thinks he knows why the theft took place near midday.
"It's a Monday, you're going to be sending stuff out to your vendors," Price said. "It's the first of the month."
"This has been going on for way too long," O'Neal added.
She now knows the arrest of five men in Delray Beach last month didn't end the crime spree of thieves stealing from cluster boxes and then forging checks.
Instead, O'Neal wants the video to deter future thefts or perhaps result in the arrest of the bold crook.
"I'm so hopeful that that happens," she said.
Last month, an agency fraud inspector with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service told WPTV that the agency will retrofit almost 50,000 cluster boxes, replacing pass keys with electronic codes. But so far, the agency has not said which cluster mailboxes will be replaced or when the change takes place.
WPTV contacted an agency spokeswoman for comment on this most recent theft, but so far, our calls and emails have not been returned.