Man in jail back to back

He is charged in robbery after release on bond

Hours after being released on bond on a charge of breaking into a Boynton Beach post office, a former postal employee was back behind bars Sunday after police said he pulled a gun in a robbery and attempted carjacking at a Sonic DriveIn.

Francis Keller, 56, was arrested just after midnight after officers were called to the fast-food restaurant at 320 Winchester Park Blvd., according to Boynton Beach police.

The officers spotted Keller and recognized him as the man they had arrested Friday night as he was opening packages inside the U.S. Post Office at 217 N. Seacrest Blvd., in Boynton Beach. He was released from jail Saturday afternoon, records indicate.

At Sonic, Keller approached an employee and asked him about getting a job, police said, before pulling a gun from his waistband and demanding money from the employee.

Officers later recovered the weapon, which turned out to be a Hy-Score 800 pellet gun, police said.

After robbing the 21-year-old employee of cash, Keller ran to a vehicle in the restaurant parking lot, pointed the gun at the driver and told him to get out of the car, cops said.

The driver, a 16-year-old male, and the other occupants of the car, also teenagers, ducked down and called 911.

Keller took off running. His description was given to dispatch, and within minutes he was taken into custody, police said.

Keller was charged with armed carjacking and armed robbery, and was back in the Palm Beach County Jail, where he is likely to spend the holidays after violating the terms of

his recent bond, said police spokeswoman Stephanie Slater.

On Friday night, police alerted by an alarm found Keller using scissors to open packages inside the branch post office at 217 N. Seacrest Blvd. He told officers he was looking for valuables to steal so he could buy crack, police said.

Keller told officers that he had worked for the post office for 30 years and got into the building using an old security code.

After that arrest Keller, of Boynton Beach, was charged with burglary of an unoccupied structure.