West Miami Mail Thief Caught On Camera

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - West Miami police have asked for the public's help in finding a brazen thief who was captured on camera stealing everything she could from a homeowner's mailbox.

West Miami Police Chief Nelson Andreu said he's very concerned about the theft and wants to find the woman before she strikes again.

The occurred around noon on July 25th in front of a residence on SW 14th Street near 62nd Avenue. On the home's surveillance video, the woman, who appears to be in her 30s, is seen getting out of a car and going to the mailbox. However, she quickly leaves when a vehicle drives by.

"You see her being driven in a blue or black BMW that goes by and she is spooked by an Amazon truck and so she leaves and goes back to her car and then she returns and completes the job," said Andreu.

According to the video, she returned to the mailbox about 45 seconds after she got spooked and took everything that was inside.

"One of the items was a credit card and she charged around $7,000 worth of items on it before she was done," said Andreu.

In an exclusive interview with CBS4's Peter D'Oench the homeowner, Mark Cereceda, said he and his wife realized when they were notified her bank account was overdrawn.

"I hope they get her. My wife hasn't gotten the money back in her account, her account was overdrawn and that's how she found out. That's when we started looking at the video cameras and the recordings. But if this happened to someone who couldn't afford it, they wouldn't be able to pay their bills. It's really unfortunate that they don't think about this kind of stuff. It's not just a regular credit card, it was an ATM credit card," he said.

Andreu said he's alarmed by the theft.

"She is calm and I don't believe this is the first time she has done or will be the last time. She actually leaves the scene and then returns and it takes a lot of gall to do that," he said. "We're trying to research and see if any other agencies know about her and the results of that search are pending."

Andreu said unless mailboxes are locked, it's a challenging crime to prevent.

"It's difficult because most people leave to go to work and when they return, check to see if anything is there. Fortunately, she had surveillance cameras and they were very going," he said.

"She walked up there in broad daylight and started yanking stuff out of the mailbox. She went back and forth a couple of times," said Cereceda.

Andreu said they don't know much about her accomplice - the driver of the newer model BMW 328.

"She had a dog barking in the car with her and someone else," said Cereceda.

Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS (8477).