Exploding mailboxes in York County

YORK COUNTY, Va. - It's a prank officials say has the potential to cause major damage to people and property, and it's happened to several homes in York County. York-Poquoson Sheriff's Deputies say someone created bottle bombs and threw them into several mailboxes in the Tabb area. The bottles exploded in four mail boxes on Willard's Way and in one box on Mansion Road.

 

The good news is no one got hurt when the bottle bombs exploded. The bad news is investigators say they have no suspects yet and they're afraid the alleged bomb creators could become victims themselves if they strike again.

Willards Way is a beautiful and peaceful neighborhood, but on Monday, something was out of place. It's a sign on a mailbox warning postal workers to skip the Price family's mailbox.

"It was, I guess, some kind of a bottle bomb is what they're calling it," says Stephanie Price.

When you look inside Price's mailbox, you can see the damage the bottle bomb caused.

"It completely exploded. There was debris all inside. You couldn't touch it. My husband had to put on rubber gloves," says Price.

Late Thanksgiving night, Price says her daughter was watching TV when "she heard an explosion. She said it sounded like a gunshot."

Price's neighbor Tari Weber heard the same noise by her house and thought it was fireworks until she opened her mailbox the next day.

"It looked like it had melted the inside of the mailbox. It was all kind of running down the door of the mailbox," says Weber.

Investigators tell WAVY.com someone mixed household cleaning products in soda bottles and threw them in mail boxes along Willards Way and nearby Mansion Road. The chemical reactions caused the bottles to burst and corrode the metal in the boxes.

"I'm sure that it's just a prank, but if you think about it, the people that did it could have gotten injured," says Weber.

That's where investigators are concerned.

"The explosion can happen in their hand while they're placing it in the mailbox, cause injuries to their hand, injuries to the face," says Deputy Mike Russell of the York-Poquoson Sheriff's Office.

Price and Weber can't help but think of the injuries their children or mail carrier could have suffered if the bottle bombs went off when they opened the box.

"Just a prank is one thing, but when you're causing bodily harm, I think that they should be punished for what they did," says Price.

Russell says the punishment could be steep.

"There's manufacturing an explosive device. There's property damage to the mailboxes themselves, and then of course anytime you're dealing with anything with the post office, you're possibly facing federal charges."

If you have any information that can help investigators, call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.