Mail thief steals $30K from Alaqua Lakes

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — Investigators are trying to find out how a mail thief made off with sensitive information from an upscale Seminole County community.

If you're not a homeowner in the exclusive Alaqua Lakes neighborhood in Seminole County, your best shot at seeing it up close is from the air.

Multimillion-dollar homes line the streets, and there is a gate and guard at every entrance. It's one of the many reasons residents said they moved to the area.

"You have to go through a secure gate. You have to give your driver's license to obtain access to it," resident Cheryl Taylor said.

Residents and investigators are having a hard time figuring out how a thief was able to sneak in to steal mail out of resident's mailboxes.

Seminole County deputies have identified at least three victims.

In the most extreme case, they said the crook used bank account information from stolen mail to steal $30,000 from one out-of-town man.

Len Davi has been a resident of the neighborhood for 10 years.

"That's unbelievable," Davi said.

Taylor has lived in the neighborhood for over a decade. She said nothing like this has happened before.

Investigators believe the thief or thieves are looking for bank statements with critical information. They said they even found some opened mail in a street drain.

"There's a lot of information on your accounts in your mail, and it's pretty scary because it's all the information they would need to get your account, is there," Davi said.

One resident did get a partial license plate number when she said she saw a suspicious person in the neighborhood.

The case will be forwarded to U.S. Postal Inspectors so they can investigate.

WFTV