WINTER GARDEN, Fla. – A homeowner in Winter Garden said he fell victim to a thief after someone stole his outgoing mail from his mailbox.
The man showed News 6 his surveillance video, which he said shows a man driving a white van, stealing from the mailboxes early Saturday morning in the Covington Chase subdivision.
Inside his mailbox were two letters to separate firefighters' unions that had been written after the deaths of New York City Fire Department paramedic Yadira Arroyo and Watertown, Massachusetts, firefighter Joseph Toscano last week.
"All I had, really, was condolence cards for some firefighters who lost their life," the homeowner said. "They will never get the ones that were written. We will rewrite those cards and mail them out, but luckily my neighbor saw this occur, or I would have never known those cards were stolen."
The homeowner said his neighbor heard the van's loud engine and alerted him to check not only his mailbox, but also his camera system.
"The police officers who came that morning said that several others were robbed that night as well, and we did confirm with the neighbor across the street that his mailbox had items stolen from it also," the homeowner said.
The homeowner said neighbors on his street have decided to drive their outgoing mail to the post office instead of keeping it in their mailboxes. He also said several neighbors plan to ask the homeowners association to install cameras at the neighborhood entrance.