Peyton residents claim mail is being stolen from community mailboxes

PEYTON, Colo. (KRDO) -- Stacy Roy, a Meridian Ranch resident, received a notification a Christmas gift had been delivered to her mailbox, but when she checked it the next day, the gift was gone.

Since moving to the Peyton neighborhood in 2019, Roy said she has had numerous mail and packages allegedly stolen from her mailbox.

“A week from Christmas presents just go missing,” Roy said. “What are people left to do? They are just without Christmas gifts?”

At the same time Roy’s package went missing, so did her neighbor Ashley Pechek’s mail. Pechek said she received an email saying her new passport she had ordered had been delivered. She checked the mailbox the next day and the passport wasn’t there.

The Peyton Post Office confirmed they delivered the passport and then told her it was likely stolen because someone has the master key to the neighborhood mailboxes.

“We're kind of stuck with not knowing what to do,” Pechek said. “I have another passport coming and I'm terrified that that's going to be stolen as well.”

Pechek said the post office told her it is the responsibility of the HOA to change out the locks. However, the HOA, which is called a Design Review Council (DRC) in Meridian Ranch, told Pechek in an email it isn’t responsible for the mailboxes because it “did not take over ownership of them after the developer installed them.”

“We're required to open up a P.O. box because we can't trust that our mail is being safely put in our mailbox,” Roy said. “That, to me, doesn't make sense. That's something that we shouldn't have to do.”

Both USPS and the DRC didn’t respond to requests for comment about who is responsible for changing the mailbox locks and keys.

So KRDO 13 Investigates took the neighborhood’s concerns to Republican Congressman Doug Lamborn, who represents Peyton. He said the Peyton mail problem is a priority for his office. KRDO 13 Investigates responded and asked what specifically Lamborn is doing to address the issue but we are still waiting for a response. 

The United States Postal Inspection Service said it can’t comment on if there is an open investigation into the Peyton post office.

“It just doesn't seem like anything is happening to help us,” Peychek said.