Postman Stops Robbery, Gets the Thief’s ID

When mailman Jim S. Reno saw a young man steal a wallet from an elderly man, he did more than chase the robber and get the billfold back.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Santa Ana resident--who works out, runs “and all that”--reached into the assailant’s back pocket, grabbed his wallet and took his identification cards.

“I didn’t ask, I just took it,” Reno, 42, said Tuesday. “I gave him his wallet back and said, ‘If you want to take off now, go ahead, the police will find you.’ ”

Looking for Assailant

Costa Mesa police Tuesday were looking for the young man. Police identified the victim as an 83-year-old Costa Mesa resident; he could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Reno said the man appeared shaken but unhurt.

Reno was delivering mail to the Circle K convenience store at Del Mar Avenue and Newport Boulevard in Costa Mesa about 3:10 p.m. Monday when he noticed a young man in his 20s harassing an elderly gentleman who tried to fight him off with his cane. At first, Reno thought they were grandfather and grandson having an argument because “(the attacker) was so blatant about it,” Reno said.

Then another witness screamed: “Hey, he took the old guy’s wallet,” according to Reno. Police identified the other witness as Robert Neper, 23, of Costa Mesa. Neper could not be reached for comment.

Reno and Neper both ran after the young man, Reno around the back of the store and Neper around the front. After a short chase, they cornered him. Reno then grabbed the man by his wrist, retrieved the older man’s wallet, tucked it in his own pocket, and then reached for the young man’s back pocket for his wallet.

“He kept saying, ‘Come on, man, give me back my stuff. I just wanted a dollar’,” Reno recalled. Reno recalled saying, “Hey, you just committed a crime. You just ripped off a helpless old man.”

Helping Out the Public

Dennis S. McKeown, Reno’s boss at the Mesa Center Station, said “carriers do this sort of thing more than people realize. They are very conscious of helping out the public. A lot of times, I don’t think people realize how much their mailmen do for them.”

Reno, a mail carrier for 13 years, said this was the first time he intervened in a crime. He has been on the same route for the past nine years.

“I’m glad that the old man wasn’t hurt and that I was able to get his wallet back for him. And I hope he doesn’t suffer any traumatic after-effects,” Reno said.