You Be The Detective: Mailbox Vandals in Wilderness Lake Preserve

School is out and while there are a lot of things I would like to write to my Land O Lakes friends and neighbors about in this post, a little mystery has come up and someone out there may hold the key to solving it. This is a chance to let your inner Shaggy and Scooby out, with the hoped-for result a minor modification to the villain’s habitual lament: “And those darn kids would have gotten away with it if it hadn’t been for a Patch reader.”

In the early morning hours of June 28, a dark colored ’99-05 Toyota Celica rolled up to the last mailbox on Citrus Blossom Drive in Wilderness Lake Preserve. A youth stepped out and swung a bat-like object, severely damaging the mailbox. The event was recorded by the resident’s security camera. Other residents also caught the same vehicle on their cameras around the same time, and a handful of other mailboxes were damaged in the neighborhood. The car was seen traveling in both directions, and it was clear that a passenger was aboard. 

On the Wilderness Lake Preserve Facebook group discussions raged about this event for a few days, with some residents arguing that the vehicle in question was a Saturn, or a Mitsubishi Eclipse or even an old Pontiac Fiero GT, but ultimately a particularly clear still shot taken from one of the videos nailed it as the aforementioned seventh-generation Celica. Residents also felt they could see a front license plate, glass roof, factory spoiler, side skirts, lack of window tinting, a custom front fascia and dark alloy wheels. Unfortunately the security cameras mounted at the front and rear of the community were temporarily out of order, and the car didn’t pass near other cameras that watch other community assets, so the license plate was not recorded.

Of course this isn’t the first time: it happens every summer. In the scheme of things mailbox vandalism isn’t terribly significant, except in neighborhoods like Wilderness Lake Preserve where the residents are not permitted to choose to harden their mailboxes or buy exceptionally cheap replacements. The boxes have to be identical to your neighbors’ boxes, and they have to be painted the required colors and mounted on the proper posts. Until one of our neighbors began offering the service of painting mailboxes and posts cheaply, the fix could run just shy of $500. 

The U.S. Postal Service does take mailbox vandalism seriously. The boxes are considered property of the postal service, and the fine for damaging them can be up to $250,000 per box. What happened last week in Wilderness Lake Preserve could theoretically be worth $1.5 million dollars. Both the Sheriff’s Office and the postal authorities are investigating, and they’ve got still shots and surveillance video to go on. Sleuthes (or snitches) with pertinent information should get in touch with either agency, as should anyone who wants a break from the court for turning himself in.