DULUTH, Ga. — The master key for locked mailboxes in two zip codes around Duluth was stolen in an ambush of a postal worker, police said. The Duluth Police Department is now warning residents of the 30096 and 30097 zip codes to be "diligent in monitoring for irregularities."
According to a Duluth Police Department case report, officers responded last week to a robbery report at the Rosemont Berkeley Lake apartment complex on Pleasant Hill Road.
There they discovered a postal worker who said he was loading mail onto the van at the complex's mailbox area when three men wearing ski masks came at him from behind and "told him not to move and simulated to have a weapon through his jacket."
The postal worker wasn't sure if in fact there was a weapon, but the men took his mailbox key, his personal Samsung Notebook and a USPS scanner. No mail was taken.
The postal worker said after he was ambushed, the men jumped inside a dark colored SUV and took off.
According to the incident report, security videos showed the suspects entering the apartment complex in what appeared to be a dark blue Dodge Journey.
The USPS scanner, which had a GPS tracker, was eventually found in the wood line near the complex.
Duluth PD is now warning residents in the 30096 and 30097 zip codes to report any thefts to the department for tracking and inform USPS at https://www.uspis.gov/report.
Both Duluth PD and the USPS investigative service are working the case.