A San Antonio woman preparing for a trip to Germany had to drive to Houston for a replacement passport after she said it was taken in a mailbox break-in at the Oakland Heights neighborhood.
“I had my passport stolen out of the mailbox,” Emily Espinoza said.
Espinoza said she had to leave in the middle of the night to get the document replaced before her flight.
“I had to drive all the way out to Houston. I had to wake up at 3:30 in the morning to head out to Houston to get my passport,” she said.
Security video from Oakland Heights recorded a man breaking into the mailboxes there. Espinoza said her passport was among the mail stolen.
On the Northwest Side, a man named Brian said he has been through it twice. He said he ordered a limited-addition gaming console roughly two years ago and had it stolen before he could pick it up.
Another break-in followed a week later.
“It was definitely infuriating,” he said.
Both cases involved keys used to open the back of the cluster boxes.
U.S. Postal Inspector Julie Nicholson-Morgan said some thieves have gotten those keys by targeting mail carriers.
“Postal keys were being stolen from letter carriers off the street. They were being robbed on the street,” Nicholson-Morgan said.
The Postal Service launched Project Safe Delivery in May 2023 to address mail theft and attacks on carriers. The agency said it has resulted in a 40% decrease in all mail thefts across the country since then.
Asked about the best way to combat mail theft, Nicholson-Morgan said residents should not let mail sit.
“Don’t leave your mail and your packages sitting in your mailbox overnight. The best way to minimize it is to pick up your mail as soon as you get home every day,” she said.
Espinoza said she still does not know who took her passport.
“I’d like answers and I don’t have anything,” she said.
The San Antonio Police Department said the suspect in the Oakland Heights mail theft is still at large.
Anyone who recognizes the man recorded on the complex’s security camera is asked to call SAPD property crimes at 210-207-7273 or email sapdpropertycrimes@sanantonio.gov.
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