Thousands of residents of San Francisco’s Mission District may be missing mail after a carrier was robbed in March of keys that open postal boxes used to store incoming and outgoing mail.
Jessica Christian/The Chronicle 2019Thousands of residents of San Francisco’s Mission District may be missing mail after a carrier was robbed in March of keys that open postal boxes used to store incoming and outgoing mail.
The carrier was robbed by two men on March 11 around 6:35 p.m. on the 3900 block of Folsom Street, said Matt Norfleet, a U.S. postal inspector for the San Francisco Division of U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the law enforcement branch of the U.S. Postal Service.
The carrier was not injured, he said.
The incident, reported earlier inthe San Francisco Standard, affects mail in the 94110 ZIP code, which includes the Mission and Bernal Heights.
Mail was reported missing from blue postal collection boxes in the area as well as from green relay boxes, which store mail heading to residents’ mailboxes and usually are accessed only by carriers.
It’s not clear whether the same people who stole the keys also stole the mail from the boxes, Norfleet said.
Mail theft is an ongoing problem in the region and nationally, and postal inspectors are investigating at least 20 mail robberies in the Bay Area, he said.
“Carriers getting robbed is outrageous and unacceptable,” he said.
Norfleet urged people in the area to report any information they may have about the robbery. People can call the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s phone line at 877-876-2455 to report information.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information that leads to the arrest or conviction of those who robbed or assaulted the postal worker, and up to $10,000 for those responsible for mail theft.
Reach Catherine Ho: cho@sfchronicle.com
