OAKLAND — A Sacramento man has been sentenced to two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to breaking into a U.S. Postal Service truck in Oakland and committing mail theft, authorities said.
U.S. District Court Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr. handed out the sentence to 35-year-old Craig Curtis Freeman on May 29, the same day Freeman entered his plea, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Ismail Ramsey of the Northern District of California.
The break-in occurred Dec. 30, 2022.
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According to Ramsey, court filings described how a mail carrier heard a gunshot while on his route and saw two people taking mail from his mail truck and fleeing in another vehicle.
Freeman in his plea agreement admitted to driving a stolen car when he pulled up behind the mail truck and that he broke the lock of the truck’s rear cargo door, Ramsey said. Freeman also admitted he removed 700 pieces of mail, put it in the stolen car, and took off with another person in the car, Ramsey said.
Law enforcement spotted the car within minutes and tried to stop it, only to see the stolen car crash into a truck, according to Ramsey.
Ramsey said that after the crash, Freeman hopped into the truck and sped off at a high speed through city streets of San Leandro and then onto northbound Interstate 880 through a southbound exit. Freeman then drove the wrong way on I-880 but avoided a crash. Police later caught up to him, as well as the other suspect, Ramsey said.
