San Francisco residents could be missing mail after robbery

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Thousands of San Francisco residents may be missing mail after a postal carrier was robbed last month of keys to boxes used to store incoming and outgoing letters and packages, authorities said.

The carrier was robbed by two men on the evening of March 11, said Matt Norfleet with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The carrier was not hurt, he said.

The incident affects mail in the 94110 ZIP code, which includes the Mission and Bernal Heights neighborhoods, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Saturday.

Mail was reported missing from blue postal collection boxes as well as from green relay boxes, which store mail heading to residents’ mailboxes and usually are accessed only by carriers, Norfleet said.

It’s not clear whether the same people who stole the keys also stole the mail from the boxes, he said.

The Postal Inspection Service is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information that leads to the conviction of those who robbed the postal worker, and up to $10,000 for those responsible for mail theft.

The robbery was first reported by the San Francisco Standard.