It has happened yet again in the Bay Area, another USPS mail carrier has been robbed of their postal keys.
The incident happened just before noon in Palo Alto Thursday.
Police said that a mail carrier in his 60s was delivering mail, when two men demanded his postal keys in the parking lot of the Southwood apartment complex.
The postal worker handed the keys over. But then, the suspects also wanted his wallet and phone, when the victim refused. The suspects knocked the mail carrier to the ground and took off.
Yasemin, who lives at the apartment complex, spoke to NBC Bay Area Friday and gave her reaction to the incident.
“It scares me. I’m a single mother as well. So, it’s really scary. And I’m from Germany, so it’s a different environment,” she said. “I’ve actually feel very safe in Palo Alto, especially in this apartment complex. So it’s a very weird feeling, especially because it’s during the day, right? It’s not at night.”
It’s the second incident in Palo Alto in the last week.
On Saturday, Palo Alto police said they arrested two suspects for two robberies of mail carriers. One happened in Belmont and the other on Ilima Court in Palo Alto, in which one of the suspects pointed a gun at the mail carrier’s head while demanding his keys. One of the suspects is from Sacramento, while the other suspect is a juvenile.
These are not the only incidents this month. In Oakland a couple of weeks ago, a video showed a mail carrier walking through a gate when she was approached, and the suspects then took the worker’s postal keys.
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“The motivation to do these crimes is to get the keys, to get something out of the mail, to do a financial crime,” said U.S. Postal Inspector Matthew Norfleet.
Norfleet is asking anyone who notices their credit card or check is missing from the mail to let postal inspectors know.
He added that mail carriers are getting more security than before. He is also asking the public to call police if they see anything suspicious.
Norfleet also noted that there are many open investigations regarding the crimes. A $150,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any suspects.
“Almost no cases are solved without the assistance of the public,” he said.
