Officials released video and photos of a suspect vehicle involved in the robbery of a postal carrier in San Carlos last week.
The U.S. postal inspector shared several images of the car they say was stolen from outside the Bay Area.
“It’s something that the carriers shouldn’t have to put up with. It's frightening to them,” U.S. Postal Inspector Matthew Norfleet said.
He hopes the new pictures could help lead to the person responsible for robbing a letter carrier.
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“So it was a gray or light colored Infinity with a black trunk and a broken window and some taped over decals that may have been done as part of the original car theft,” Norfleet said.
He said the car was stolen out of the Roseville area near Sacramento and the license plate was stolen from a different vehicle.
Then the car arrived in the Bay Area and, investigators say, carried the robber to San Carlos.
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“San Mateo County carrier was robbed in this case the carrier was roughed up quite needlessly,” said .
The robbery occurred April 25. The new video doesn't show the attack, but does show the vehicle before the assault.
“You also see that car driving by shortly after the carrier delivers mail where that camera was located. We're not sure how long the car followed the carrier. There does seem to be a pattern where the cars follow the carriers for a while before they find a spot that they are ready to do the robbery in,” Norfleet said.
Investigators say this isn't an isolated incident. Mail carrier robberies are becoming all too common.
On Wednesday, another letter carrier was robbed in Oakland, the suspects snatched the worker’s master keys. Those keys can open dozens of mailboxes.
“It’s a weekly if not daily occurrence somewhere in the bay area where letter carriers are being robbed so we have at least a dozen open cases looking for information,” Norfleet said.
In San Carlos, neighbors were stunned to hear it happened there and are deeply concerned for the postal worker.
“It's very surprising that someone with a gun came out and did this on this residential street which is usually quiet,”Romina Skoff of San Carlos said. “It’s hard to know who is coming here to do things they aren’t supposed to do but we keep our eyes out for anything that looks suspicious.”
They hope pictures of the suspect's car will lead to a break in the case.
“There is a substantial amount of reward money available up to $150,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of these robbers or any other robbers,” Norfleet said.
