Authorities in Los Angeles and West Hollywood Wednesday were investigating two cases of mail theft, the kind of crime that has long plagued city residents, especially those in apartment and condominium complexes.
In West Hollywood, a mail thief was spotted on security video last week opening and emptying all the mail boxes in the lobby of an apartment building on Sweetzer Avenue.
The video shows the man putting the pilfered post into a black bag before he exits out the rear of the building with the bag and some other parcels in hand.
On Tuesday night in Studio City, residents of a complex in the 4200 block of Longridge Avenue confronted a suspect, with one of them pepper-spraying the man, a video recording shows.
Some of the residents told reporters a thief had been breaking into their mailboxes for about two weeks after a local mail carrier was robbed of a master key.
“We’ve reported it to the cops,” one of them told KTLA5. “We’ve reported it to the detective, and the postal service is aware of it.”
As in the West Hollywood case, some of the thefts have been captured on security video.
The Studio City suspect was not only pepper-sprayed by one of the residents, who identified himself as Timothy Brehmer, but his Jeep also had its windshield smashed to keep him from driving away.
Brehmer recorded himself pepper-spraying the man and tussling with him and said he smashed the vehicle’s windshield.
The confrontation left Brehmer with a bleeding arm wound, possibly from being stabbed or cut, but he was unsure exactly how he was hurt. He was treated at the scene by fire department personnel, Los Angeles Police Department Officer Rosario Cervantes said.
The suspect managed to drive away before police arrived to investigate, Cervantes said.
The headline is incorrect. A resident pepper sprayed the suspected mail thief, not the police.