Recent Parolee Charged In 'Audacious' Daylight Armed Robberies Of USPS Workers In Evanston

EVANSTON, IL — A local parolee was been ordered jailed ahead of trial on charges that he robbed a pair of mail carriers at gunpoint in Evanston on Monday and Tuesday.

Everett Pullett, 32, of the 800 block of Washington Street, faces two counts of armed robbery and one count of armed habitual criminal, according to police and prosecutors. All are non-probationable class X felonies, with convictions carrying mandatory minimum sentences of six years.

Pullett was taken into custody Wednesday following a traffic stop and first appeared in court Friday in Skokie. Prosecutors said the car he was driving was linked to Tuesday's robbery, which was captured on surveillance video.

Police said an accomplice from the first robbery remains at large, but both mail carriers' United States Postal Service "arrow keys" — master keys that provide access to multiple mailboxes and mailrooms — have been located.

Officers discovered one set of keys stolen in the robbery at the man's Evanston home and found the other after the man handed them off to his girlfriend at the time of his arrest, according to prosecutors.

In Monday's robbery, Pullett grabbed a mail carrier's arms and demanded the mail carrier's keys while his accomplice brandished a gun around 4 p.m. in the 1600 block of Monroe Street.

In that instance, Pullett specifically demanded the mail carrier's arrow key and directed his masked accomplice to grab it off the postal worker's waistband, Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Kate Fritzmann said.

Around noon the next day, Pullett robbed another mail carrier at gunpoint in the 2400 block of Nathaniel Avenue. This time, after grabbing the arrow key, he struck the mail carrier in the head, knocking him to the ground, Fritzmann said.

"Both of these cases occurred close in time and [Pullett] used the same common design," Fritzmann told the judge Friday.

Investigators found surveillance footage that shows Pullett show up in a dark red Honda Odyssey near the site of the second robbery shortly before it took place, according to the prosecutor. And police later found the same Odyssey, which had an expired registration, parked in front of an Evanston home.

Police said assistance from the United State's Postal Inspection Service helped identify the vehicle.

Officers pulled over the minivan in the 900 block of Ridge Avenue around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday for expired registration, according to police and prosecutors.

Pullett, the driver, was issued citations for driving with a suspended license, expired registration, driving without insurance and failure to restrain a child under 8, authorities said.

Fritzmann said body-worn camera shows Pullett hand over a set of keys to his girlfriend when she arrived to pick up the child who had been in the minivan.

Officers carried out a search warrant at Pullett's house on Thursday and found several pieces of incriminating evidence, Fritzmann said, including the other stolen set of keys, a pistol and clothing identified by the victim as worn by one of robbers Monday.

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Earlier: Increased Risk Of Package Theft After Robbers Steal Postal Master Keys

According to the Illinois Department of Corrections, Pullett was released on parole in July — less than a year after his admission in state prison for pair of three-year sentences: a felony in possession of a firearm in Cook County and a retail theft in DuPage County.

Records show he pleaded guilty to the DuPage County charge in September 2021 in exchange for prosecutors dropping a burglary charge and an additional retail theft charge and received credit for time served.

At the time of his arrest, Pullett also an active warrant issued by authorities in Lake County, Indiana. According to court records there, a warrant was issued in 2020 after he failed to appear in court on theft charges.

In addition to the state charges, federal prosecutors are considering filing additional charges related to the postal worker attacks, police said.

Cook County Associate Judge Anthony Calabrese granted Fritzmann's request to order Pullett held without bail, finding that either the proof is evident or the presumption is great that he committed the crimes.

"Here the allegations against the defendant include the threat of violence, the use of violence, the use of a dangerous weapon. The times in which these are alleged to have happened — in broad daylight in crowded residential communities — all of those are of grave concern to me," Calabrese said.

"It is a rather audacious criminal conduct alleged on the part of the defendant."