The mailbox-smashing spree began shortly after dark Tuesday, Dec. 14, with the first cases reported that evening on Oak Hill Road. The vandalism went on late into the night, with many more damaged boxes reported on Wednesday. Homeowners found a few more cases on Thursday. But the police soon located three juveniles responsible for much of the damage. Detective Daniele Fortunato told the Press, “By Friday, we had them all.”
About 30 mailboxes in all were vandalized, Fortunato said. The dispatchers’ log shows cases on Warren Avenue, Tahanto Trail, and Oak Hill, Old Littleton, West Bare Hill, Littleton, and Littleton County roads.
“It was good old detective work” that allowed police to identify the three juvenile drivers involved, Fortunato said. An officer on regular overnight patrol had seen a number of cars on the roads at unusually late hours. When the damage was reported, police contacted several of those drivers, one of whom was a juvenile who at first told “a story that made no sense,” according to Fortunato. Soon, however, the juvenile admitted to the vandalism, and that identification led the police to two others who were also involved. None of the three has been publicly identified because of their age.
The three culprits will be held accountable for the damage they did. Police have reached out to residents whose mailboxes were vandalized and asked them to submit receipts for the cost of repairs by Jan. 15 to the Police Department. The juveniles will have until April 15 to pay the total amount to the town, which will then reimburse the residents.
