MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Scratches and blood stains are what were left behind on the mailbox of Luis Del Prado after he said thieves broke into his mailbox at his west Miami-Dade County home and stole what was inside.
Surveillance video shows the crooks first passing by in a vehicle on Tuesday before returning to pop off the lock a day later.
“You can actually hear them banging on it and sort of pulling it out,” said Del Prado.
Unfortunately, Del Prado said this is not the first time his mailbox has been broken into.
A different video shows who Del Prado believes is the same man pulling up to his house in late January and stealing his mail.
“They got away with some checks and some personal information that we would prefer that no one else had,” he said.
The thefts apparently did not stop there.
“They just kept coming for two or three weeks,” said Del Prado. “We installed some new cameras.”
Del Prado said one of the things he did to try and deter these crooks from returning was to change out his mailbox to one that has a lock and requires a key to open it.
“They tried to mess with the lock with a screwdriver, didn’t work,” said Del Prado. “And then they came again yesterday on foot and that’s when they were banging on the mailbox at 3 a.m. and ripped it off.”
Fortunately in this case Del Prado said the thieves didn’t get away with much, but he worries they may return and wants his neighbors to be on the lookout for the criminals targeting homes during the holidays.
“It is not really fair because you work hard for this money, you get your loved one a gift and then basically someone takes what you got for them,” said Del Prado.
One good practice regarding mail is to sign up for the Informed Delivery service that shows you what mail is being delivered and pick that mail up on a daily basis.
Additionally, anyone who thinks they recognize the crooks in the video is urged to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.