RIDGEWAY, S.C. — The Fairfield County Sheriff's Office wants residents to watch what they put in their home mailboxes.
The sheriff’s department says it has received multiple reports of mail stolen from home mailboxes in the area.
“It never crossed my mind that somebody would be taking something," Ridgeway resident Randy Wilkes said.
Wilkes tells News 19 he was stunned when he saw someone take mail out of his home mailbox last week, mail he says included important documents for his daughter.
“I sat down right here to eat lunch and this little red car came from this direction, crossed over, pulled up to the mailbox, and then speed off," Wilkes said. "I assumed he was just putting a flyer or something political something in there. Then I looked, and the flag was down and the door was open.”
Wilkes says now his daughter now has to redo all of her internship paperwork.
“It’s just a bad feeling to know that someone was opening and reading her personal information," Wilkes said.
“Over the past week, we have received several reports of thefts from residential mailboxes in Ridgeway," reads a post on the Fairfield County Sheriff's Office Facebook page.
Authorities say mailboxes with raised red flags appear to be targeted.
Montgomery encourages everyone to mail packages and letters from the blue mailboxes at the U.S. Postal Service rather than sending them from home.
“We got a great community here, everybody looks out for each other," Wilkes said. "That's why I just never thought in a million years someone would be taking.”
According to the Sheriff’s Department, a suspect vehicle is described as a 4-door red car with black rims, no make or model known.