Cypress neighbors growing frustrated with monthslong mail theft issue

CYPRESS, Texas (KTRK) -- Mail theft is on the rise in a Cypress neighborhood, and folks who live there are fed up.

It's happening in the Cypress Mills Estates. Neighbors turned to ABC13 after feeling their problems were going unheard.

Neighbors are frustrated and say this has been going on for months. While they say no one is giving them concrete answers or solutions, they believe whoever is responsible for breaking into the community mail boxes may have a counterfeit postal key.

"Everyday is a 50-50, if it's going to be there or not. We just want it fixed. We just want our mail," Cypress Mills Estates homeowner Ashley Pruneda said.

There's mounting frustration as neighbors say their concerns have gone unheard.

For months, someone has been breaking into several community mailboxes in the Cypress Mills Estates subdivision and stealing checks, credit cards, and other things forcing neighbors to try to beat the thief or thieves to the punch.

"I'm setting an alarm on my phone to try to catch as soon as the mailman leaves to get my mail," Pruneda said.

On Friday afternoon, the postal inspection service confirmed they are looking into reports of thefts in this neighborhood and others in the northwest Harris County area.

Meanwhile, neighbors are taking matters into their own hands, creating a paper trail of how often this is happening.

"Dates and times that I saw it and that I took a picture of it," neighbor Michael Lenard said.

A community is uniting and keeping a watchful eye on these mail boxes.

At least one neighbor is even putting a camera up to catch whoever is doing this on video.

"When your mail is not secure, you're not secure," Lenard said.

"In the Houston area and throughout the country, mail thieves occasionally attempt to steal mail from USPS cluster boxes using counterfeit postal keys, in violation of federal law. Postal inspectors are diligently investigating these cases to identify and apprehend the responsible persons," representatives from the postal inspection department told ABC13.

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