A Reading man has been charged with robbing two mail carriers of packages just minutes apart last month.
Following an investigation in which police viewed footage from a multitude of city- and privately owned cameras covering a wide swath of the city, Criminal Investigator Joshua Sheller on Wednesday charged Luis Martinez-Ozoria, 27, with multiple counts each of robbery and theft by unlawful taking in the Feb. 9 incidents.
Martinez-Ozoria was free on $25,000 bail to await a hearing following arraignment Thursday night before District Judge Priscilla Campos in Reading Central Court.
According to court records:
On Feb. 9 shortly before 11 a.m., police were dispatched to Mulberry and Greenwich streets after a mail carrier reported he was robbed of a package.
The carrier said he had parked the mail vehicle in the 500 block of Mulberry. While removing parcels from the trunk and placing them in his satchel, a black Acura sedan with no visible license plate numbers pulled next to the truck.
A male wearing a ski mask got out of the car, approached the carrier and grabbed a package out of his satchel. The male fled with the package and was last seen in the 1000 block of Greenwich, heading toward North 10th Street.
While speaking with the victim, the officer learned of an attempted robbery of a mail carrier shortly before the Mulberry street robbery.
That carrier said he had parked his work vehicle in the 700 block of North 10th to deliver mail in that block. He was removing parcels from the trunk when a black Acura TLX double-parked in front of his vehicle.
The male got out and approached him, then reached into the trunk and grabbed a package.
The carrier yelled, “No!” and grabbed the package from him. The would-be robber ran back to the Acura and fled south on North Eighth.
The carrier was able to take a picture of the rear of the Acura as it was driven away. The photo showed that the license plate had been bent in half to prevent a normal view of the plate numbers.
However, since the numbers are indented, they could still be discerned.
Police learned the car was registered to Martinez-Ozoria of the 500 block of Pearl Street. They found the car in the lot of the apartment complex where he resides.
The vehicle was impounded.
Police secured footage from private businesses to augment footage from city police-mounted cameras.
In several of the video clips, the suspect is seen wearing a bright orange jacket.
Footage from the apartment complex where Martinez-Ozoria resides in the day leading up to the robbery shows he is the only person driving the Acura to and from the parking lot. He is also seen wearing a bright orange jacket during most of these trips.