Spanaway, WA — A United States Postal Service worker was robbed of their keys while delivering mail in Spanaway. The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office says on March 31st, the postal worker was on his route off 212th Street Court E in a gated community when someone pulled up behind his work van, pulled a gun on him and took the keys right off the mailbox.
“The suspect had walked up to him wearing this face mask and literally just pointed a gun at him,” Deputy Carly Cappetto said.
Pierce County shared body camera video where deputies found the postal worker after the robbery. He told deputies the person who robbed him was also wearing a ski mask and had taken off in a Maroon Kia. The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office says they were able to pull surveillance video from the surrounding neighborhood to get the license plate and direction of the vehicle; however, the license plate did not come back to the KIA which meant the vehicle was stolen.
Not long after the encounter, Lakewood Police spotted the maroon Kia, pursued the vehicle and shortly arrested the 33-year-old suspect. Lakewood officers and Pierce County deputies found the stolen mail keys, a gun and the ski mask matching the description from the postal worker. Deputy Cappetto says this sort of crime can have a horrific ripple affect across the community.
“And mail theft typically leads to a lot of other crimes such as fraud or impersonation or illegally submitted tax returns,” Deputy Cappetto said. “It could be much more than mail theft. It could be a variety of other felony crimes and those could impact people’s lives significantly,” she continued.
Police also found 3 passengers inside the stolen vehicle who were later released at the scene since they were not a part of the robbery. The suspect is in the Pierce County Jail facing charges ranging from eluding police, possession of a stolen vehicle and a warrant for robbery charges. Deputy Cappetto says once the warrant is complete, robbery charges will come soon.
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