An article from Sachem Patch today...interesting!

Mailbox Vandals Caught on Camera
Lake Ronkonkoma teens abuse neighbors property, so he shot video.
By Chris R. Vaccaro

Desperate times call for desperate measures and when your mailbox is vandalized 10 times in a six-month span, mounting a surveillance camera to catch the perpetrators qualifies.

Marc Langone, who lives in Lake Ronkonkoma, had enough and purchased a night vision camera that shoots decent quality video (see video on the right) to catch the vandals in the act.

"It was happening like clockwork," he said. "It got completely out of hand."

The last incident was July 24 around 2:30 a.m. and the video depicts a group of young teens beating up the mailbox, knocking it out of the ground and eventually running away with the property.

Suffolk County Police handed the incident off to its Crime Section group, who followed up on the case Wednesday. The department's Public Information Office confirmed that investigators are working the case now.

Langone recorded footage on June 14 with a different camera, but the quality wasn't as good.

"With that incident the group of kids were actually filming themselves too," he said. "One kid actually dove into the mailbox. The quality of my video wasn't that good. I thought maybe the police could enhance it. They said there wasn't enough detail."

Now that he has better video and an angle to possibly help exterminate the crime occurring on his property, Langone is pleased.

"It would be good to get it out there to the public," he said. "It is punishable and people are watching."

Mailbox vandalism falls under the category of "criminal mischief" in Suffolk County.

"Too often nowadays we wake up to the horror of having what would be a relaxing and event filled weekend morning turn into a trip to the local home improvement store followed by hours of repair, installation work to fix broken mailboxes or fences," Langone said.

Langone is hopeful that moving forward more people will be inclined to take proper actions against such crimes to their property.

If you have any information about these incidents, contact Suffolk County Police's Crime Stoppers hot line at 1-800-220-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.