Dolezal visited city where hate mail was postmarked

Rachel Dolezal was in Oakland, Calif., just days before she reported receiving a package of threatening mail in a Spokane U.S. Postal Service box.

The package Dolezal reported receiving on Feb. 25 included images of lynchings and photos of individuals pointing guns, along with a typed note signed "War Pig."

In May, the now-former Spokane NAACP president reported the receipt of similar mail from the same sender. The letters - from "Formerly known as: 'War Pig (Ret.)'" - were postmarked in Oakland, and offered an apology for the earlier package.

Through a public records request, The Press received documents showing the city of Spokane paid for Dolezal and Adrian Dominguez to travel to Oakland on Feb. 17. The purpose of the two-day trip, according to travel expense records, was for training to assist Dolezal and Dominguez in their volunteer positions on the city's police oversight commission.

The trip was also documented in the minutes of meetings of the oversight commission and the Spokane NAACP.

During an interview last week with KXLY news in Spokane, Dolezal answered questions about the mail.

"...Two pieces of mail from Oakland and one piece of mail that got dropped off at the post office. Again, it seems highly unlikely that an individual that had a key could have been in two places at once or would have flown to Oakland to mail those last two pieces. I think that's kind of reaching," she said.

Dolezal gave the interview after a Spokane police investigation concluded the package she received in February was never processed by the U.S. Postal Service. It had no postmark or barcode.

Detectives cleared all postal workers who had access to the post office box when the package was allegedly delivered, and determined it was most likely placed there by someone with a key to the box. Citing no leads, Spokane police suspended all hate crime investigations involving Dolezal on June 11.

Spokane investigative reports received last week by The Press do not clearly indicate whether police there questioned Dolezal about whether she had been to Oakland recently.

On Tuesday, the day after Dolezal stepped down as chapter president, the Spokane NAACP called on the city to reopen the investigation.

And it appears Dolezal may have another connection with Oakland.

The Spokesman-Review reported Monday that Dolezal said, when she was being considered for appointment to the police oversight commission, that she is the daughter of a black Oakland police officer.

The white man on her birth certificate, Larry Dolezal, has no law enforcement experience. Albert Wilkerson, the black man Rachel has presented as her father, was in law enforcement, but The Press has not been able to confirm if he ever served on the police force in Oakland.