A father and son arrested last week in California for attempting to rob a post office are now suspects in a string of postal truck robberies that lasted 18 months and added up to over $400,000 in losses.
Cory Parker, 46, and Cory Parker, Jr., 23, were charged on Friday for conspiring to rob a post office in Victorville, Calif. The law enforcement branch of the U.S. Postal Service, the Postal Inspection Service, reported that the Parkers are also suspected of stealing mail bags from postal trucks in L.A., Victorville, Murrieta, Pasadena, Phela, Colton and Rialto. The thefts began in 2015 and continued throughout 2016. The Rialto Police Department has assisted in the investigation.
The U.S. Justice Department reports in a press release that mail bags were taken from the postal trucks as they were traveling on their routes.
“The brazen acts of these defendants demonstrate the lengths to which mail thieves will go, including jumping onto moving vehicles and attempting to rob secure post offices,” said United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker. “This case is the latest of several cases highlighting my office’s focus on criminals victimizing the Postal Service and its customers.”
According to a federal affidavit, U.S. Postal Service drivers were discovering that the locks on their postal trucks had been cut and mail bags taken which included registered mail that contained cash, checks and money orders.
Police believe that a postal worker tipped off the Parkers about the cash-filled mail bags and the routes they traveled, according to losangeles.cbslocal.com.
Officers reported finding a blue ski mask, U.S. post office shirt and bolt cutters inside a truck belonging to Cory Parker.
Police report that Cory Parker, Jr. maintained an Instagram and posted pictures of cars, clothes and a traveling video game business.
If convicted of the conspiracy robbery charge, the Parkers would each face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.
