Powell Butte post office burglarized, offers limited services

People trying to ship packages sent to Redmond post office, eight miles away

POWELL BUTTE, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Powell Butte post office is usually a fairly quiet one, only serving a few thousand people. But this week the typically tranquil location location was the target of a burglar.

The post office's lobby was closed after someone had shattered the lobby door. Shipping and mailing supply services were unavailable due to the break-in.

“It's very disappointing," Powell Butte resident Debbie Seiffert told NewsChannel 21 Wednesday. "Just to hear our little post office here was broken into is a sad sad thing for our little community.” 

Seiffert has had a P.O. box at the Powell Butte facility for six years, and said this was the first time she's heard of anything like a burglary happening there.

The Powell Butte post office is not the most secure location. It has no security cameras, with just a few outdoor lights and bars on the back windows. The Redmond post office has at least three security cameras monitoring P.O. boxes, the lobby and the entrance.

Two people told NewsChannel 21 they thought adding security cameras would be a good idea.

Ernie Swanson, a regional spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service, told NewsChannel 21 Wednesday that only larger post offices typically have security cameras.

Crook County Sheriff John Gautney a burglary at the post office but said he could not release other details due to the "active investigation."