Arrest made after two postal carrier robberies in west suburban Chicago

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Chicago man is charged with robbing two letter carriers in west suburban Forest Park. 

Devan Flax, 20,  faces two counts of Armed Robbery, one count of Aggravated Robbery, and three counts of Aggravated Unlawful Use of a Weapon.

Prosecutors charged Flax after investigators found stolen mail, stolen postal keys, and a firearm that Flax attempted to discard immediately before his arrest, according to a news release.

The first robbery happened on Saturday, in the 900 block of Beloit Avenue in Forest Park. Police said a man approached the postal worker outside of his truck and said, "I don't want to hurt you," while robbing him of his master keys, or arrow keys - allowing access to multiple mailboxes.

The second robbery, on Tuesday in the 1000 block of Beloit Avenue, happened just steps away from the Saturday incident.

This time, police say a worker was delivering mail when a man approached and said, "Gimme them keys," while showing the worker a black handgun. 

This postal worker was also robbed of master keys, authorities said.

 U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) has introduced legislation that would put Postal Police back on the street to protect workers.

Citing statistics from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Durbin's office said armed robberies of mail carriers jumped from 36 incidents nationwide in 2018 to 154 in 2021.  

The letter carriers' union said Durbin's proposed legislation is a long time coming.

 "I'm happy he is taking the approach to do something, to get something done for us," said Elise Foster, president of Branch 11 of the National Association of Letter Carriers.