Resident feels targeted after vandals allegedly put fireworks in mailbox

HAMILTON, Ohio (WXIX) - A Tri-State man says he feels like he is being targeted after his mailbox continues to be vandalized.

Rick Woodring said he has filed three reports with the Butler County Sheriff’s Office and added security cameras, but his concerns continue to rise.

“It’s kind of awful waking up in the middle of the night to a very loud bang outside,” explains Woodring.

He says it started with firecrackers but has escalated.

“It’s like a little pack of 12 and they just ‘pop pop pop pop,” describes Woodring. “The one last weekend was a mortar, the ones that shoot up in the air and make the big stars, so if it hadn’t shot out of the mailbox, my mailbox would probably be in pieces.”

Woodring, a father of three, says the first incident happened in July. At that time, he says he was not the only victim in the neighborhood.

Since last summer, Woodring says the vandalism has happened twice more: once in January and again in February.

“I have video of four people coming down the street, standing out here, nobody’s in a rush, they’re talking, laughing, they’ve got flashlights, they light off a firework and then they run,” says Woodring.

Although his mailbox is still standing, the inner lining is charred with powder burns.

Vandalizing a mailbox is a federal crime.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service website says, “those who are convicted of destruction of federal property could spend up to three years in jail and be fined up to $250,000.”

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please include the title when you click here to report it.

Copyright 2023 WXIX. All rights reserved.