AUSTINTOWN — Police are warning apartment residents in the township to drop off their rent payments in person after more than a dozen people had theirs stolen earlier this month.

Austintown police Detective Sgt. Lea Rozzo said the thefts happened during the weekend of Aug. 2-4, during a large storm.

Residents at Deer Creek Apartments, Compass West Apartments, Springwood Apartments and Westchester Apartments all had their rent payments stolen from the after-hours drop boxes or office mail slots.

“There are at least nine people who filed reports,” she said. “There are more tenants who had checks stolen, but they were able to put a “stop payment” on the checks. The others couldn’t do that.”

Rozzo said police are working with apartment managers to review surveillance video and obtain leads, but so far they have had limited success. Rozzo said one camera was not working because of the storm, one only covers the inside of the office and another did not have a camera.

“For one, you can see the money being stolen but not who is stealing it,” she said. “A lot of these complexes don’t have great quality cameras, so we cannot see exactly what takes place.”

Rozzo said she suspects the thefts are being committed by someone traveling through the area and she is waiting to hear back from other jurisdictions to see if their communities also have been targeted.

The apartment complexes are operated by separate companies.

According to Austintown police reports, at least $2,400 was stolen from Springwood, including two checks totaling $1,255, and the rest in money orders. The money orders were later cashed at Walmart in Austintown.

At Westchester, the report states, one man dropped his payment off on Aug. 3, but received a notice on his door on Aug. 6 that he hadn’t paid his rent. On Aug. 8, his bank notified him that someone had attempted to cash the check. The report states he told the bank that Westchester management may know who took that check. He put a “stop payment” on the check.

No amount was listed for the payment. However, another man at Westchester learned, after his $687 money order was stolen, that others in the complex also had been victimized. The report states that at least two others reported their rent payments missing.

At Deer Creek, video from Aug. 2 shows rent payment money orders being stolen from the floor inside the office lobby, as someone reaches a long object through the mail slot and takes them. The money orders totaled $980. The report states that Western Union told the victim her money orders were cashed on Aug. 7, but would not provide further information about who cashed them or where, without the person paying a fee and filling out a form.

At Compass West, reports list at least three victims. One had a money order for $616 stolen and cashed, while another had four money orders totaling $735 stolen and later cashed on Aug. 12.

Rozzo said she is not certain how the businesses are handling the problem, but at least some are compensating the tenants, given that there is a report on file.

Rozzo said she told all the apartment complexes to put a stop on drop boxes for now and have all tenants drop off their rent in person..

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