Neighbors on either side of Jack and Adele Daab had their decorative iron mailboxes stolen. But The Daabs had theirs bolted down and avoided becoming victims of the crime. Forum Newsgroup photo by Jeremiah Dobruck.
At about 5 a.m., Omayra Gonzalez sat on her Howard Beach porch and sensed something was missing from her front yard.
“I noticed something weird,” she said. She had gone outside about three weeks ago,in the early morning for a cigarette, and when she turned to her left she noticed her ornate, iron mailbox was gone.
In the past month, mailbox thefts have begun to plague Howard Beach. There have been four in the area, according to the Postal Inspection Service (PIS).
The ones disappearing are, like Gonzalez’s, ornate, iron, pedestal-style boxes, and Donna Harris, a spokeswoman with the New York division of the PIS, said they believe they’re being stolen for the metal not the mail.
“It’s a crime with the intent of stealing the mailboxes with the intent to scrap the metal,” she said.
People stealing metal to sell has been a general problem throughout Queens.
In May, police nabbed a man who allegedly stole 40 manhole covers to sell for about $15 a pop.
Stealing the iron mailboxes is a new twist on the thefts though.
Jack and Adele Daab, who live on 160th Avenue in Howard Beach were lucky enough to keep their decorative mailbox. Their neighbors on either side, however, both had their boxes stolen.
The Daabs took the precaution of bolting theirs down to a concrete slab.
“I was smart,” Jack said.
“Otherwise it would have gone,” Adele added.
Scrappers breaking into backyards and taking anything not bolted down is a problem that’s not isolated to the 106th Precinct covering Ozone Park and Howard Beach.
In the 104th Precinct—covering Maspeth, Middle Village, Glendale and Ridgewood—officers have repeatedly warned residents of roaming scrappers.
In April, officers from the 104th arrested two men who hopped a fence and started stealing tools and scrap metal from private property.
Captain Cody, commanding officer of the 104th Precinct said he hasn’t yet heard reports of missing mailboxes in his precinct, but he has advised residents to call 911 if the see scrappers trespassing or stealing anything.
He said many of them are junkies or unemployed workers trying to find a way to survive or fund a drug habit.
Jack Daab said his well-kept house and neighborhood can become a target for crime in tough times.
“As the economy gets bad and there’s no work, they come into this neighborhood,” Jack said.
He and his wife even found footage on their security camera of someone siphoning gas out of their car early one morning.
Gonzalez, who smokes out on her porch every morning, said the theft of her mailbox has left her uneasy.
The thieves took mail along with the box, and she wondered what would have happened if she had run into the thieves in the early morning hours.
“I definitely was scared,” she said.
By Jeremiah Dobruck
j.dobruck@theforumnewsgroup.com
