O-R carrier assaulted, robbed
An Observer-Reporter motor-route carrier was assaulted and robbed as she prepared to deliver newspapers early Wednesday morning.
According to Bridget Vilenica, Observer-Reporter circulation director, the employee was in the office parking lot on South Main Street about 2 a.m. when a white man in a dark jacket with a hood approached her. The man, who had no teeth and was described as 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-8-inches tall, told the carrier his name was Mike and that he had broken down and no one would help him.
He asked her for a cigarette, money and for the use of her cellphone.
The carrier gave the man a cigarette and a sandwich and went back into the office to buy him a drink.
As she was getting ready to leave the parking lot in her vehicle, the man reached in and put a knife to her throat. He put her in a headlock and demanded her money. She gave him the $20 she was carrying, which she planned to use for gas. The man struck her in the mouth and fled on foot.
The carrier attempted to follow him in her car, but lost sight of him.
After the employee filed a police report, she delivered her route.
“We just really have wonderful carriers. They are out there 365 days in the cold and who knows what out there,” said Vilenica. “We give her a lot of credit.”