Three Fort Worth men have been sentenced to a combined 17 years in federal prison for robbing a U.S. letter carrier, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.
Cedrick Eugene Mims, Danny Yogi Oriszul Powell, and Cameron Kemond Gist were indicted in February. They each pleaded guilty to robbery of property of the United States. Mr. Gist was sentenced Friday to U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman to 70 months in federal prison; Mr. Mims and Mr. Powell were previously sentenced to 75 months and 70 months, respectively.
“These defendants brazenly robbed a U.S.P.S. letter carrier at gunpoint in pursuit of an arrow key that would allow them to steal mail from collection boxes,” said U.S. Attorney Leigha Simonton. “In response to a concerning rise in arrow key robberies, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas has become laser-focused on prosecuting these cases. We commend our partners at the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for their commitment to investigating these crimes and stopping them in their tracks.”
“The sentencing of these three individuals shows the utmost importance we place on the safety of U.S. Postal Service employees,” said Fort Worth Division Inspector in Charge Kai Pickens. “We will not stop pursuing those who seek to harm our employees and will bring them to justice to account for their violent crimes. Robberies of our employees are a top investigative priority for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and a traumatic event for our employees which we do not take lightly. The partnerships we’ve established with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Fort Worth Police Department allowed us to work jointly to pursue and hold these individuals accountable. Let this serve as reminder to those who harm and traumatize our employees: We will find you and bring you to justice.”
According to plea papers, the three men robbed a letter carrier, identified in court documents as C.S., in Fort Worth on Oct. 24, 2023.
Mr. Mimms admitted he pointed a 39mm pistol at the carrier and demanded “the key” – a reference to the carrier’s “Arrow Key,” a master key used by the U.S. Postal Service to gather mail deposited in blue collection boxes that is prized by mail thieves.
The men admitted that they also purloined a postal scanner and the keys to the letter carrier’s official vehicle. Mr. Powell drove the getaway car and Mr. Gist provided the firearms, plea papers indicate.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Fort Worth Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Montes prosecuted the case.
This case is the result of Project Safe Delivery (PSD), a joint U.S. Postal Service and U.S. Postal Inspection Service initiative aimed at countering postal crime and safeguarding postal employees. Announced in May 2023, in direct response to a rise in threats and attacks on letter carriers and mail theft incidents, PSD seeks to protect Postal employees and the mail stream, prevent incidents through education and awareness, and enforce the laws that protect our nation’s mail stream. Since the launch of PSD, postal inspectors, working with law enforcement partners, have arrested more than 287 individuals for postal-related robberies through June 30, 2024. In the first six months of the fiscal year, the number of arrests for postal-related robberies rose 72% versus the same period the previous year, while the number of postal-related robberies dropped 21%. Meanwhile, the number of mail theft complaints received during that period decreased 35%, suggesting the PSD approach is achieving the intended result.
