Burglars Use Mail Key to Access Multiple Dogpatch Buildings

A Dogpatch condominium building was burglarized twice, along with a third attempt, in the span of four days earlier this year. Instead of smashing windows or picking locks, the criminals gained entry with a stolen U.S. Postal Service key. 

According to Dirk Duffner, 700 Illinois Street Homeowners Association president, security cameras recorded a man and two women wearing expensive shoes approaching the building’s front door on January 2. They used a USPS key to get in, then opened the mailboxes. The trio grabbed all mail and packages, entered the parking garage, and, unbeknownst to the residents, stole a garage door opener, and left. 

In response to a call from residents about the incident, the San Francisco Police Department told them to take their complaints to USPS. 

“We then called the postal service and got the runaround,” Duffner said. 

When a USPS inspector telephoned back, he said he was unaware of the incident and asked for details. However, he didn’t offer solutions or promise a response. Duffner followed up with a locksmith, who said they couldn’t rekey the door or mailboxes because doing so is USPS’ responsibility. 

In the early morning of January 4, two of the same three burglars returned, this time using the stolen garage door opener to gain entry. Rather than confining themselves to mail and packages, they rifled through cars and storage units in the parking garage and roamed around the building for close to an hour. The thieves pried open storage units, pulled out various wires, which disrupted the internet, and broke into the bicycle storage room, stealing two bikes belonging to resident Shawn Troedson worth roughly $2,500. 

Although law enforcement is working to identify the suspects, they similarly told Troedson when she filed her police report that they couldn’t do anything about the access issue “because it was a USPS problem.” 

The HoA has intensified security measures throughout the building, including permanently plugging the USPS keyhole to disable it, receiving mail through alternative means. Around 5 a.m. on January 5th, the thieves returned and again tried, this time unsuccessfully, to enter the building with the USPS key. 

“I know they came back because someone had clearly tried to put a key in the slot,” Duffner said. “They are persistent for sure.” 

Troedson said she posted the incident on Nextdoor and learned the same thing happened to buildings on Third Street and Tennessee Street. 

Dogpatch residents raised the string of burglaries at a January Community Police Advisory Board meeting. A lieutenant took notes but didn’t offer additional information or remedies, according to Troedson. 

“Unfortunately, USPS and SFPD didn’t provide any solutions on how to stop these same thieves from coming back again and again, so we’ve taken it upon ourselves,” she said. “This is in the hands of owners and residents in Dogpatch. We remain vigilant and want to keep neighbors up to date that this happened, and their building could be next.”

Despite the theft, for the first half of January burglaries were lower in the area served by the Bayview Station, which includes Potrero Hill and Dogpatch, by 36 percent compared with the same period in 2024, according to SFPD’s crime dashboard. This follows a trend of diminished crime in the City overall. Shortly before Mayor London Breed left office she reported that robberies fell 22 percent, burglaries 11 percent, in 2024, pushing San Francisco’s crime rate to its lowest level since 2001.