SAN ANTONIO – Mailbox vandalism and mail theft have become a big problem in San Antonio. The News 4 I-Team has investigated complaints from neighborhoods across the city.
Now vandals have struck at an apartment complex for seniors run by San Antonio’s housing agency and older tenants have been cut off from their medication and other mail for months.
As it has in the past, the Postal Service says it’s not their problem.
Opportunity Home, which owns the senior complex, says it’s still repairing mailboxes damaged back in January.
Cheryl Smith had to have a relative pick up her mail, which included a sleep apnea test kit she’s been waiting on for weeks, and a letter from her cardiologist sent a month ago.
“It’s been going on for three months which has been exhausting, exasperating and tiring,” Smith said.
Opportunity Home, which operates the almost 200 unit senior apartment complex, says its mail center has been the target of repeated vandalism.
In the most recent attack, vandals covered up security cameras, and dismantled mailboxes leaving them damaged beyond repair.
“We have no access to medications, to our mail, to our bills, we have no communication,” Smith said.
A note on the mailboxes instructs tenants to pick up their mail at the post office, but some of the seniors don’t drive.
“Sometimes you can get a ride, sometimes you can’t, or you have to do without your mail until you can find a way to get it,” Smith said.
Opportunity Home told us: “Construction on a new secured mail center is approximately 80 percent complete and includes a secure entry system designed to help protect residents’ mail.”
The housing agency says it has been in communication with the U.S. Postal Service.
But as in other mailbox vandalism cases we’ve investigated, the postal service says: “. . .repair, and replacement of mail receptacles are the customer’s responsibility, or apartment property management companies and homeowners’ associations (HOA).”
Residents and HOA’s have been complaining for years about theft and vandalism.
Last year Congressman Joaquin Castro wrote a bill requiring the postal service to repair cluster mailboxes.
City Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito called for overhead lighting to be installed at those mailboxes as part of the city code.
But so far none of those initiatives have been approved, and seniors like Smith must rely on apartment management.
While they won’t fix your mailbox, you can report mail theft to the Postal Inspection Service at (877) 876-2455. You can qualify for a reward of up to $10,000.
They also have an Informed Delivery app that sends you photos of your mail and packages before delivery so you can tell if your mail is being intercepted.
Opportunity Home says they expect the mail center at the senior apartments to be operating by the end of April.