EDD Debit Card Withdrawals, SUV Purchase Leads Feds To Suspect In 6 Armed Mail Carrier Robberies
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- A 31-year-old Oakland man is suspected of committing at least six robberies or attempted robberies of United States Postal Service letter carriers in East Oakland.
The federal criminal complaint, announced Monday by United States Attorney David L. Anderson and United States Postal Inspection Service Inspector in Charge Rafael Nunez, alleges that David Leveren Quinn carried out the armed robberies with one or more unknown conspirators between Aug. 11 and Sept. 25, 2020.
According to the complaint, Quinn or an accomplice, in most of the robberies, would stake out a letter carrier and then park near the mail truck, then confront the carrier and take mail and packages from the truck, often after showing a firearm.
The complaint alleges that Quinn committed the robberies, at least in part, to engage in identity theft, including by stealing unemployment benefits issued during the COVID-19 global pandemic.
The complaint specifically alleges Quinn with robbing a letter carrier near 66th Avenue and Avenal avenues in Oakland around 3 p.m. Sept. 19, when a silver Infiniti sedan with its front license plate covered, parked near a postal carrier.
"Quinn got out of the Infinity, approached the letter carrier, and placed a suspected firearm at the letter carrier's right side and told him not to move," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a release. "Quinn was joined by his crime partner, and they took mail trays from the mail truck and fled in the Infiniti sedan."
Shortly after the robbery Quinn was seen on ATM surveillance video using a California Employment and Development Department debit card, which had been mailed to an address on the route of the carrier, to withdraw $1,000 in cash, according to the complaint.
The same card was used the next day to purchase a Cadillac SUV that was used in a subsequent robbery, the complaint alleges.
A search of Quinn's phone indicated he tried to activate another EDD debit card mailed to an address on the same carrier route.
Quinn made his first appearance in federal court on Monday.
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