Packages are being misplaced and stolen upon delivery at 14th Street apartment complexes, according to University students and local police.
The 14th Street housing area is about a seven minute walk from central Grounds. Its location behind the Corner, a popular location for University students to frequent, makes it a high traffic area. Students say delivery drivers are careless when placing packages on doorsteps, sometimes resulting in delivery to an entirely wrong building.
These reports were corroborated by the Charlottesville Police Department.
Tony Newberry, captain of the Charlottesville Police criminal investigations division, said 14 larcenies — thefts of personal property of $5 or more — from buildings were reported in 2024 on 14th Street. Newberry noted there were six reported cases of burglaries on these two streets in 2024, but that there are also many cases that go unreported. He also said that a reported case can include the robbery of multiple packages at one time.
“I do know that I don’t think everything’s reported,” Newberry said. “When [larcenies] occur — especially in an apartment building — it might be one incident, but they might take multiple packages belonging to multiple people, which leads to multiple victims.”
One second-year College student, who wished to remain anonymous but lives at Venable Court Apartments on 14th Street, said she had two mattresses stolen but did not report either case to the Charlottesville Police, as she said it was too much of a hassle.
The first mattress was stolen prior to her moving into her complex for the school year in late August. She said as an out-of-state student, she shipped apartment goods to be delivered just a few days before she arrived — and that she expected the packages to be there waiting for her. However, she said two-thirds of the packages delivered were stolen.
The student noted that specifically for the mattress, the company was understanding and sent a replacement, but that the replacement ended up being delivered to the wrong building in her complex and was again stolen.
“I don’t think there’s anything that [can] be done,” the student said. “One of my roommates [is from] Charlottesville, so I just started getting my packages sent to her.”
She noted her complex does have an Amazon locker which securely holds Amazon packages, as long as she inputs delivery instructions asking the package to be delivered to the locker, when placing the order. She said this system works well and she has not had Amazon packages stolen. But theft remains an issue for packages from all other companies given that they are thrown on random staircases or completely misplaced by delivery drivers according to her.
One second-year Commerce student who also lives at Venable agreed with the first student that there is no secure place to have mail delivered unless it is coming from Amazon. The student said that once, several items from one order — from the same company — were delivered in three separate shipments at three different times, and to three different places within her complex. The student has not had a package stolen, but she emphasized the unreliability of the complex’s delivery system overall.
“There’s just a lot of uncertainty with the mailing of [my] apartment complex on 14th, because you don’t even know which building [the package is] going to be delivered to,” the student said.
Representatives for Venable did not respond to repeated requests for comment before publication.
A second-year Engineering student who also lives at Venable said she had one clothing package stolen despite leaving her apartment to retrieve it just five minutes after the delivery notification. She said there was a second shipment as part of that same order, so she had people on the lookout for it so it would not also get stolen. Since those two deliveries, the student said she sends everything to her home address to pick up when school is out of session, so she does not have to deal with what she says is a commitment to being home in the middle of the day, waiting for deliveries.
None of these students have raised this issue to their landlord at Venable — they have instead found ways to deal with it on their own, as they said they thought there was nothing landlords could do. The second-year Commerce student said that she did not think the landlord would be of much help because they may not bear responsibility.
“We haven't contacted the landlord, because I'm pretty sure that there's a clause in our lease that they're not responsible for anything that happens to our mail,” the student said.
Newberry noted that while landlords could be better with mail security, he said a lot of this issue stems from a lack of prevention. According to Newberry, these package thefts are simply “crimes of opportunity,” where thieves are able to take packages off of doorsteps or outside complexes because residents are at work or in class, or the area is not properly lit so it is easy for a thief to get away.
Newberry said when a package theft is reported, one of the first things the department does is ask for security camera footage, hoping a resident or neighbor of the resident will have some sort of door camera recording. He said there were several arrests made earlier this year for criminals responsible for multiple larcenies, but that these crimes are typically not that organized.
“A lot of times [package thefts are] not necessarily organized,” Newberry said. “A lot of times it’s going to legitimately be a crime of opportunity — somebody sees it and then they snatch it.”
Newberry emphasized the importance of being ready to pick up a package during the delivery timeframe and of course the basic measure of keeping doors locked to prevent actual break-ins.
In terms of overall impact of these package thefts, all students said these issues would not have impacted their decision to live at their complex as they both have friends who have the same issues up and down all complexes on 14th Street. The second-year Commerce student noted the location of 14th Street was her priority when it came to finding housing and that she does not know of any other complex that would be better in mitigating these problems.
“I knew I wanted to live on 14th, so there [were] very few places that [had] a more secure mail system,” she said. “It definitely wasn’t something highlighted in the tour, especially because [the tour was] from the rental company, so they are not as open about certain things.”
The second-year Engineering student noted she does know of other complexes, such as Wertland Square Apartments, that have secure mail lockers similar to the Amazon lockers, but for all packages. She said the low rent they pay to live at Venable outweighs the inconvenience of the mailing system.
“I know other apartments have those outdoor codes, but at the end of the day, our rent is so much cheaper [that] I think it’s still worth it,” she said.
Charlottesville Police highlighted the need for residents of 14th Street to keep their doorsteps well-lit to help prevent theft, and also encourage residents to be home during the expected delivery timeframe.
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