COLUMBUS, Ohio — It's happened again: another postal carrier was robbed at gunpoint in Columbus. This time at the corner of South 5th and East Engler streets in downtown.
According to the Columbus Division of Police, a suspect put a handgun to the mail carriers stomach and demanded his keys. The mail carrier handed the keys over and the suspect got into a silver sedan and drove away.
Detectives say the thieves are stealing keys to get at the mail inside which contains checks. Those checks are then washed or changed with a new name and a new dollar amount, then they are cashed at a bank.
In January 2022 alone, more than 500 checks were stolen from Ohioans and posted for sale online, according to the United States Postal Service.
10TV contacted the US Postal Inspection Service about the latest crime and what its doing to prevent it from happening.
“Fortunately, the letter carrier was not injured. Postal Inspectors along with local law enforcement responded to the scenes and canvassed the areas. Our office currently has an active investigation that is ongoing. We are working with our local law enforcement partners to follow up any and all leads,” said a spokesperson for the US Postal Inspection Service.
The crimes have already been reported in German Village, Whitehall and Gahanna.
The Postal Inspection Service says it recognizes that there has been a “significant increase in mail theft and carrier robberies and we are working diligently to address this and has employed a national strategy to address this.”
The agency tells 10TV this is how it responded:
- Improved physical security of mail collection boxes, including pilot projects testing enhanced security locks
- Close collaboration with local and state law enforcement to step up patrol arrests whenever they observe mail theft and increased intelligence sharing and reporting
- Maintaining a strong partnership with the US Department of Justice on the investigation and prosecution of mail theft and violent crime affecting postal employees
- Deploying additional Postal Inspection Service personnel to areas with volumes of letter carrier robberies and mail theft
- Utilization of the Postal Inspection Service’s rewards program, which provides monetary rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of offenders.
Mail carrier safety has reached the halls of the nation's capital.
In response to the latest robbery, US Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) sent a statement saying "This is unacceptable, and I demand action from the postal service leadership including the resignation of Postmaster Dejoy.”
Last year, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) sent a letter to the Postal Inspector asking to "reinstate the patrolling duties of Postal Police Officers (PPOs) in the face of increasingly widespread, costly, and dangerous armed postal robberies and mail theft."
The request came after it Brown said he learned USPS changed its patrols and "restricted the presence... to postal facilities while prohibiting them from patrolling mail carrier routes."
Zaire White is approaching his seventh year a mail carrier.
10TV asked about robberies and whether he feels safe walking neighborhoods and delivering mail.
“I'm out here by myself for about 10 hours out of the day. It makes you scared and nervous and stuff like that,” he said.
White says his boss has warned him about what to if approached by these robbers.
“When they come up on us with guns or whatever it is just give them what they want don't try to fight for it,” he said.
White said the crooks are after arrow keys.
“This little key right here they just want this; that's what they want. They want it so we are trying to figure out a way to make it so we don't have to carry them around us,” he said.
Anyone with information on the latest mail carrier robbery should call Columbus police at 614-645-4545.