Postal worker robbed at gunpoint

NORTH MIAMI, Fla. (WSVN) -- For the third time in three weeks, a postal worker has been robbed in North Miami-Dade.

Late Monday morning, a postal worker was robbed at gunpoint at Northeast 133rd Street and Sixth Avenue. The worker was making a delivery to an apartment complex in the area. She walked into the building to the mailboxes inside where she was confronted by a man in a ski mask who demanded her master key, which opens panels of mail boxes, and took off with it.

Carmen Gonzalez, one of the apartment building's residents heard the commotion in the hallway after seeing the postal worker at the mail boxes. "Forty seconds to a minute later, I come again, and she's not here, all these are open," she said about the mail boxes.

That worker was shaken but not injured, North Miami Police said. Investigators are now searching for one male suspect.

Friday, in the same city, another female postal worker was robbed but also beaten. The thieves responsible also stole her master key.

Several days earlier, sometime during the week of Oct. 3, in Miami Gardens, a third worker, also a female, was robbed and beaten for her master key.

All subjects in these robberies remain at large. It remains unknown if these crimes are connected.

U.S. Postal Inspector Blad Rojo expressed concern over the escalation of the robberies in the last three weeks. "The violence level has seemed to have revved up from the first robbery three weeks ago to this one, meaning it was physical confrontation at that point, where they physically grabbed the letter carrier and snatched the key from them. In this one, a gun was displayed, so we are now escalating."

Back in December of 2010, also in North Miami-Dade, a similar robbery of a 60-year-old postal worker turned fatal after he was killed while making a delivery. In that case, his master key was also stolen. Police have since arrested the people who they believe are responsible in that case.

If you have any information on any of these most robberies, call the U.S. Postal Inspector at 877-876-2455 and select option 2.

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