Police look for mailbox-bashing vandals

WHITELAND, Ind. (WISH) - Police believe teen vandals are driving around using heavy ammunition to damage mailboxes in the Johnson County town of Whiteland.

Emily Pringle woke up around three in the morning and heard celebrating in her front yard.

"I heard this noise go by and I heard a thud and I knew it was our mailbox because I knew it had been happening. So, I heard kids applauding themselves for what they had done," said Pringle.

Police and residents aren't amused.

"Seems like it's always funny until they see the red and blue lights in the back window. Unfortunately, that is when it gets pretty serious," said Chief Deputy Doug Cox with the Johnson County Sheriff's Dept.

Cox said teens have been vandalizing mailboxes in the area for a week.

The Pringle's rental property and her neighbor's have also been targets.

One homeowner was so fed up with replacing damaged mailboxes they resorted to a tree stump instead of a post.

Police said the vandals' ammunition of choice is heavy concrete blocks, possibly stolen from a construction site.

"It would appear these individuals are throwing these cement blocks from a moving vehicle," Cox said.

The concrete blocks were thrown with such force that they created deep divots in the Pringle's front lawn.

Cox said the childish pranks could get someone seriously hurt.

"This is dangerous to not only the kids riding in the bed of the truck...if you are throwing a heavy object like that and you are traveling 50 miles per hour, you may go over the side of that pick-up truck yourself," he said.

The Pringles said it cost them nearly $300 to repair the damage.

The sheriff's department wants to talk to anyone who might have more information. Call 346-4604 to talk to a detective.