Police are looking for a Grinch who was caught on tape breaking into an apartment building and allegedly leaving with stolen mail in New Westminster.
Resident Sean Rosicki was out walking his dog when he discovered mailboxes pried open in his building on 12th Street Tuesday morning.
“It’s hard to know what letters were coming,” Rosicki said. “Some people I spoke with checked their mailboxes the night before, but others don’t know if they lost any mail.”
Rosicki says it looks like the suspect came in prepared.
“We saw him walk in and cover his face for a bit, but then he made a mistake and looked right at the camera, so I was able to get a good shot of him,” he said.
The surveillance video has now been submitted to police.
Sgt. Jeff Scott with New Westminster Police says the man came in through the front door and tried to knock the surveillance camera away from the mailbox area.
At this point, investigators are not sure how much mail may have been stolen.
Scott says they see an increase in this sort of crime this time of year.
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“These thefts are relatively complicated, because oftentimes people may not even know if they have received mail or have had mail sent to them – people get gift cards from friends and family all over the country and around the world and they may not even know what’s been sent to them, which adds another level of complication to this sort of investigations.”
He says they are reminding people to track their mail over the holidays and if they live in apartment buildings, to not let strangers in.
“If you do see people who don’t belong in the building, report any suspicious activity to your local police,” Scott said.
They are also reminding people to not leave any gifts or purchases in their parked vehicles.
“Thieves know when gifts are being sent in the mail or when they are in people’s cars. And they will try to gain on other people’s misfortunes.”
Rosicki hopes someone will recognize the man in the video.
Rosicki thinks the man might be a local and he wants other residents to be aware that he is out there, causing harm.
“It’s pretty low to go out and steal someone Christmas gifts basically.”
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