U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Mark Rogers, 39, and Joseph Way a/k/a Gus, 36, both of Rochester, NY, who were convicted of kidnapping a federal employee, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr. Rogers was sentenced serve 210 months in prison and Way was sentenced to serve 168 months in prison. A third defendant, Tashara Levans, who was also convicted of kidnapping a federal employee, is scheduled to be sentenced July 8.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert A. Marangola, who handled the case, stated that on November 16, 2019, in the area of Second Street and Central Park in Rochester, the defendants kidnapped a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier while she was delivering mail.
Rogers and Way confronted the mail carrier about a package she delivered to them. The package did not contain cocaine, which Rogers and Way were expecting, and the two men accused the mail carrier of taking the narcotics. Rogers and Way directed the mail carrier to a vehicle driven by Rogers’ girlfriend Tashara Levans.
Over the next two hours, Levans drove Rogers and Way as they threatened to shoot and kill the mail carrier and her children if she did not provide either the cocaine, they believed she had stolen, or $70,000, which was the street value of the cocaine. Eventually, the mail carrier was released unharmed.
Today’s sentencings are the result of an investigation by U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Inspector-in-Charge Ketty Larco-Ward, Boston Division, and the Rochester Police Department, under the direction of Interim Chief David Smith.