On September 26, 2025, police received a report regarding stolen mail from a mailbox located in an office building in Burnsville, Dakota County, Minnesota. The reporting party, an adult male identified herein as “Victim,” told police that he has an unsecured mailbox in the hallway of the office building. Victim showed police surveillance video of the hallway from September 24, 2025, which showed a mailman putting a white envelope in the mail box at 12:18 P.M. At 1:57 P.M., a male grabbed the envelope from the mailbox and walked away with it.
Victim did not know what the envelope contained but was concerned it contained personal information. Victim [NAME REDACTED] had shown the video to another tenant in the office building, who identified the suspect as a worker of his named LAMONT ANDREW BOWENS [DOB REDACTED]. An officer contacted BOWENS, who told the officer that he didn’t think the theft was a big deal. BOWENS stated that he took a piece of “junk mail” from the mailbox and used it to prop open the door to the building so he could smoke a cigarette.
When he was done smoking, the door was locked so he had to go around to the front door. BOWENS stated that he did not know where the mail went and did not go back to look for it. The officer then contacted BOWENS’ boss who had identified him in Victim’s surveillance video. BOWENS’s boss stated that he had also called BOWENS after viewing the surveillance video, and BOWENS had initially denied taking the mail. When his boss confronted BOWENS about the video, BOWENS told his boss that he had been struggling lately and acted on his intrusive thoughts.
BOWENS stated that he went to the men’s bathroom with the mail and threw it in the trash. BOWENS’ boss told him that he is no longer welcome at the property. On September 27, 2025, Victim followed up with the officer and reported that BOWENS returned mail to Victim’s mailbox, but the mail did not belong to Victim. Victim provided surveillance video of BOWENS putting the mail in his mailbox, taking a picture of it, then walking away. Victim also provided a picture of the mail he had found in the inbox, which was addressed to another office in the building.
Victim stated that he provided the mail to the correct office.
