Postal Service offers $150K reward to find robber of Oakland mail carrier
OAKLAND -- The United States Postal Service is asking the public for help locating a man who robbed a postal officer in Oakland earlier this month.
The USPS announced Wednesday that they are offering a $150,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of a suspect.
The alleged robbery took place around 3:45 p.m. March 2 in the 400 block of Euclid Avenue.
In surveillance video, you can hear the mail carrier scream as she was accosted by the robber.
"It's not too rare these days," said Dahla Williams, a woman who lives in the neighborhood. "I think postal workers should, I don't know, have some kind of security alarm or something on them."
USPS says no mail was taken from the carrier, just the postal keys.
"There's only one reason to have those keys if you're not a letter carrier and that's to steal mail," said Matthew Norfleet, a U.S. postal inspector.
Norfleet says USPS consistently changes the locks but it won't happen immediately.
"There are going to be opportunities for criminals to exploit those keys," Norfleet said. "We do want to let people know if they don't get mail that they're expecting, especially if it can be financially exploited, like a check or a credit card. Those people should also contact postal inspectors."
Tyler Hilligoss lives nearby. He heard about the robbery from another mail carrier who works in the area.
"We've generally been pretty worried about it because we know it's been an issue with other postal workers as well," Hilligoss said. "It was a little unnerving to hear it happened so close to where we live."
USPS says mail theft is both a federal and a state crime. If the man is caught, he will be charged in both courts.