To neighbors, Riley Township is quiet farm county. So, when 13 mailboxes were recently destroyed, longtime resident Christine Witt was surprised.
"It looks like, you know, a car might've just, you know, drove right into it and knocked 'em completely down," she said. "And yeah, for a mile and a half, I just couldn't believe it when I saw it."
Mailboxes along Centerline, Grove and Jason Streets were dented or knocked off their posts altogether.
"I don't know who did it or why, but you know they might've just thought it would be fun," Witt said. "It's summertime, you know, and I think maybe kids get a little excited to get out of school."
"It's obviously someone with a lack of maturity," Clinton County Sheriff Wayne Kangas said.
He agreed the suspects have to be kids.
"I don't know the joy it would be of smashing somebody's mailbox. Go to your own home and punch a punching bag or something, if you need to get out some aggression," the Sheriff said.
Sheriff Kangas added the summer months are prime time for petty crimes and recently, his office has seen a number of them.
"One where a lady had her three tires on a car slashed and her car was keyed in that general area," He explained. "And then, I think there's another victim in there who had damage under his garage door and also somebody burnt some garbage in the middle of the road."
The Sheriff thinks they're all related, but that the targets were random.
Regardless, he worries about the victims.
"It is irritating for the people and, you know, you destroy somebody's property, it's personal," he said. "It's traumatic and you start wondering about - why me?"
Which is why his Office will continue searching for the perpetrators.
The Sheriff said most of the crimes happened Sunday evening into Monday morning.
If you know anything about these incidents, you're urged to call the Clinton County Sheriff's Office at 989 - 224 - 5200.
