The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is offering up to $150,000 for information about the latest in a string of armed robberies targeting mail carriers in North Texas.
A man described as black, thin, in his early 20s, and between 5-foot-8 and 5-foot-9 allegedly robbed a letter carrier who was delivering mail near the Slate at Fort Worth apartments at 4720 Wellesley Ave. on March 15 at approximately 4:45 p.m. His hair was short, and he was wearing a black hoodie with an off-white logo on the front, black shorts with a green stripe, black socks, and black flip-flops.
Anyone with information about the robbery is urged to call USPIS at 1-877-876-2455, say “law enforcement,” and reference case number 4272276-ROBB. Tips are kept confidential, according to USPIS.
The robbery on Wellesley Avenue is the second in Fort Worth, with another incident reported on Sydney Street on January 17. In fact, for the past few months, robbers have been targeting letter carriers across the metroplex, with three incidents occurring in Dallas alone, as covered by The Dallas Express.
The National Association of Letter Carriers, a labor group representing postal workers, has been organizing rallies not just in Dallas but also in Oklahoma City and Jacksonville, where similar robberies have taken place. Frank Albergo, national president of the Postal Police Officer’s Association, reported an 800% increase in robbery and theft incidents nationwide between 2019 and 2023, per CBS News Texas.
U.S. postal authorities and workers have additionally been calling for more action from the federal court system to deter these robberies by punishing offenders. Just last month, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco sentenced a convicted armed robber to 30 days in federal prison.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy released a scathing statement shortly after calling the sentence “simply unacceptable.”
“This sends a concerning message of encouragement to our nation’s criminals and a message of disregard to our loyal public servants, who deserve better protection and reassurance that the law will take crimes against them seriously,” DeJoy wrote.
“America’s postal workers are entitled to feel protected as they go about their public service mission, and at a minimum, should be able to take solace in knowing that the law protects them against crime as they perform their duties and that any such crimes will be taken seriously by the courts,” he added.
Soft-on-crime approaches have been increasingly slammed nationwide, with some authorities, such as New York City and Oregon, hardening their approaches, as covered by The Dallas Express.
On the other hand, in Dallas — where Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot has been no stranger to such criticisms — some have suggested there could be a movement among City leaders toward overlooking crime or even defunding police.
The Dallas Police Department (DPD) has been chronically understaffed for quite some time. It fields around 3,000 officers despite a City report calling for 4,000 to ensure public safety. Moreover, DPD was allocated just $654 million in taxpayer money this fiscal year, considerably less than the spending on police seen in other high-crime jurisdictions, such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City.
As of March 21, the City’s crime analytics dashboard had logged 21,724 reports, with growths year-over-year seen in certain crime categories, including motor vehicle theft (15.2%), drug offenses (3.7%), and robberies (0.9%).
