Arrests made in violent robbery of U.S. Postal carrier in Southern California
Two men implicated in a violent series of robberies of United States Postal carriers were arrested late last month in Riverside County, officials announced Thursday.
In a news release, officials with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office said that just before 11 a.m. on March 24, deputies assigned to the Palm Desert Sheriff’s Station responded to one of the crew’s alleged robberies near Storke and Bertain drives.
At the scene, authorities learned that a U.S. Postal carrier had reportedly been robbed at gunpoint by one of the suspects who exited a vehicle driven by his alleged partner and demanded the postal carrier’s belongings, investigators said.
Both suspects then fled in the vehicle.
RSO detectives assigned to the Palm Desert Business District Team took over the investigation and were able to identify 28-year-old Los Angeles resident Jose Estevan Chavarria Jr. and 32-year-old Victorville resident Luis Alberto Gonzalez as the duo involved in the robbery.
“During the investigation, it was determined that several additional robberies and attempted robberies of United States Postal carriers had occurred in Cathedral City and several cities in Los Angeles County,” the release stated. “Arrest warrants were issued for both suspects.”
The U.S. Postal Service Inspection Service, on March 25, had announced a $150,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of two men who robbed a postal carrier in the Valley Village neighborhood of the San Fernando Valley.
In that instance, the three suspects were captured on surveillance cameras fleeing the scene in a white Honda four-door sedan and had, reportedly, attempted to rob two other letter carriers that same day.
“The robbery and attempted robberies happened in Sherman Oaks, Tarzana, and
Valley Village,” the Inspection Service stated in a news release. Two of the suspects were described as young Hispanic males who were wearing face masks. The third suspect was just described as a Hispanic male who was also wearing a face mask.
On March 28, four days after the Palm Desert robbery, Chavarria and Gonzalez were arrested in an unrelated vehicle enforcement stop in Burbank and transferred to the custody of the RSO.
They were booked at the Robert Presley Detention Center for robbery.
So far, investigators have not said whether they believe the 32-year-old and 28-year-old were involved in the mail carrier robberies committed in the San Fernando Valley area.
The U.S. Postal Inspector’s Office has assumed the investigation and is expected to refer the case to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for filing consideration.
Anyone with information about any of these incidents is encouraged to contact RCSD Deputy Granados at 760-836-1600.