Postal Impersonator Ripping Off Pleasant Hill Mail

PLEASANT HILL (CBS SF) -- An alleged porch pirate, who strolled through a Pleasant Hill neighborhood early Thursday dressed as a mailman, stole mail and packages from local homes, according to authorities and residents.

The suspect's image has been captured on several residential surveillance cameras and the alleged thief was the focus of an investigation by postal inspectors and the Pleasant Hill police department on Saturday.

He wears clothing similar to U.S. Postal Service employees and even carries a mailbag.

Shereen Motarjemi thought it was odd to see a mailman walking through the neighborhood at 6:37 a.m.

"Oh my, you're out rather early this morning," she said to the man. But her dog was a little more suspicious.

After speaking to the man, he dropped a letter in her mailbox, but her dog kept barking at him.

"I could say maybe there was a little slur in his speech," she told KPIX 5. "He never made eye contact with me, always kept his head down. That ruffling through the bag thing was the first confusion thing I felt, they don't do that, they know exactly where their letters are."

When she retrieved the letter, Motarjemi discovered it had a neighbor's address on it.

"I'm saddened by it," she told KPIX 5. "I'm saddened that's where we're at, that it doesn't feel like a safe neighborhood."

Motarjemi said the man was white, stood about 5-foot-9 and was in his 20s. Investigators are canvasing the neighborhood to see if there are other victims.