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WADESBORO — Dating back to at least December of last year, residents living on Gulledge and Rising Sun Road have been the target of mailbox bashers.
Neighbors report observing one of the suspects swinging a baseball bat out the window of a gray or tan pickup truck at their mailbox as it flies by.
It is unclear how many suspects are involved in the ongoing destruction to private property. Most recently, Deputy Cory Howard responded to Gulledge Rd. following a report of multiple mailboxes down in the street on September 26. The reporting victim showed Deputy Howard damage to the front of his vehicle which he said occurred when he struck one of the mailboxes in the roadway. The victim informed Deputy Howard that he observed a dark truck headed south, swerving and hitting mailboxes with a bat.
After speaking with the victim, Deputy Howard patrolled the neighborhood, finding a vandalized mailbox at a residence on Rising Sun. He noted the damage appeared to have been inflicted with a “blunt object.” He noticed two other damaged boxes between Rising Sun and Five Points Junction on 742 South, though he could not locate any address numbers to indicate ownership or jurisdiction. Deputy Howard noted no mailboxes were off their posts in the area.
On the following day, September 27, the victim of the Rising Sun mailbox damage came into the Anson County Sheriff’s Station to report the vandalism to both her and her neighbor’s mailboxes to Deputy Ratliff. She explained that someone keeps coming by her residence and mangling the mailboxes. To prove her point, the victim brought along her beaten mailbox; a heavy duty, roadside mailbox on a wooden post.
During a late July weekend this year, one family on Rising Sun became an alleged target of the mailbox bashers.
Deputy Wylder Kuhn responded to the incident and noted in his report that damage to the boxes was “Extensive. It appeared someone had hit the boxes with a large object. It did not appear to have been done by a vehicle.” He further stated the damage “appeared intentional.” When Deputy Kuhn asked the victim if his mailbox had been damaged prior to the July incident, the victim responded, “This is the third or fourth time this has happened since he had lived at this residence.”
The following day, the victim awoke to find their outbuilding broken into and items stolen from the property. It remains unclear if the incidents are related. The July victims did not report seeing an unknown vehicle in the area, only their suspicion that the suspect lived close by.
In December, residents on Rising Sun reported damage to their mailbox and neighbors at the time reportedly saw a “gray, four -door Toyota truck with a dent in the passenger door” in the vicinity of the vandalized box. Also in December, a mailbox and sign were reported stolen from NC 742 North.
Based on eyewitness accounts, the mailbox bashers reportedly drive an older style Ford or Toyota pickup truck that is gray or tan in color, may have a dent in the passenger door and does not seem to be as active Monday through Thursday.