A man who robbed a United States Postal Service (USPS) employee at gunpoint was sentenced Tuesday to more than five years in federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham.
Abdirashid Omar, 22, was charged via criminal complaint in May 2022. He pleaded guilty the following month to robbery of property of the United States and was sentenced Tuesday by Senior U.S. District Judge Terry R. Means to 71 months in federal prison.
In plea papers, Mr. Omar admitted he robbed a USPS letter carrier during her rounds in Fort Worth on April 11, 2022.
The postal worker told law enforcement she was walking down the driveway of a residence when the defendant, dressed in a black hoodie and blue surgical mask, grabbed her, pushed her into a fence, pressed a handgun into her abdomen, and took USPS equipment from her.
Law enforcement located surveillance video that captured the defendant’s vehicle following the carrier to various residences and then fleeing the area at a high rate of speed. Postal Inspectors located the vehicle and established surveillance that identified the vehicle visiting multiple Post Offices in the days following the robbery.
About a week later, law enforcement searched Mr. Omar’s vehicle and residence and located stolen U.S. Mail, stolen checks, and a setup in which checks were being “washed” – placed into a liquid substance to have the ink removed.
In court, Mr. Omar later admitted to robbing the carrier to obtain USPS property and to stealing U.S. Mail.
“The day of the robbery was my 30th day at that job, it was going to be my first full week being out on the street by myself. Instead I got a gun shoved into my abdomen,” the victim said at sentencing. “It may just be a robbery to some people, but it was my life that was put in direct danger and it is I who has to put the pieces back.”
“A top priority for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service has always been a focus on the safety of USPS employees,” said Thomas Noyes, Inspector in Charge of the Fort Worth Division. “This sentencing exemplifies that commitment. Through a rapid response by Postal Inspectors, collaboration with local law enforcement, and the use of investigative tools and techniques, a dangerous individual was successfully apprehended. We thank the Fort Worth Police Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Texas for their support on this case.”
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Fort Worth Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Levi Thomas prosecuted the case.