Until the man vandalizing Diamond St. businesses is caught residents might want to avoid putting mail in the post boxes at BART, a postal employee says. She was picking up mail at Glen Park Mail Depot Thursday afternoon and said that someone has twice poured cleaning liquids and other material into the post boxes there.
“Dropping off mail during the day is fine,” she said, but she was concerned that placing mail in the boxes after 4:00 PM might be a problem, if the vandal strikes again. She declined to give her name, saying she didn’t have the authority to speak officially.
Anne Cho at Glen Park Mail Depot (across the street from BART) said she was happy to act as a mail box for residents. Postal employees come to the shop each afternoon to pick up mail and she always has a big carton ready to receive letters residents bring in.
The vandal who’s been setting fires and smearing feces on businesses along Diamond Street is still active, businesses report. This week he has struck three more times. Glen Park Cleaners at Diamond and Chenery was struck on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday early in the morning, Cho said. The attacks were limited to feces mixed with other materials smeared on the door and jamming the lock.
Local businesses have been stepping up surveillance and police have been taking more turns through the neighborhood in the early morning hours when the attacks have typically taken place.
A homeless man who reported one of the first incidents, when the vandal set fires in front of three businesses, described the man as white, wearing sandals and a hoodie. At least one other person also saw someone wearing sandals involved in attempting to jam a lock.
Cho said discussions among businesses in the neighborhood have revealed that these attacks may have begun on July 16. On that day someone put a mixture of feces, oil and rice or some grain through the mailbox slots on at least one and possibly two businesses, as well as a pornographic DVD featuring Asian women. There was no note or any indication what, if any, message the vandal meant to send.