Three men from Fort Worth pled guilty to robbing a letter carrier, one of a string of crimes against postal workers that have taken place over the past year.
Defendants Cedrick Mims, Danny Powell, and Cameron Gist pled guilty to robbery of property of the United States after holding the letter carrier at gunpoint on October 24, 2023.
Powell entered his plea on March 6, and Mims entered his plea on March 13, with Gist entering his plea on April 17, according to a press release from the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Texas.
Mims confessed to pointing a 39mm pistol at the carrier and demanding “the key” — referring to the carrier’s “Arrow Key” — a master key used by the postal service to gather mail deposited in collection boxes.
The thieves also admitted to stealing a postal scanner as well as the keys to the carrier’s official vehicle. Powell drove the getaway car, and Gist provided the firearms, according to the press release.
The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service alongside the Fort Worth Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Montes is prosecuting the case.
The case resulted from a joint initiative of the U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, known as Project Safe Delivery, which is aimed at protecting postal employees and the mail. In recent years, mail thefts and threats and attacks on letter carriers have increased exponentially, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
More than 2,000 assaults on USPS employees have occurred since 2020, the National Association of Letter Carriers told Federal News Network.
On April 3, another Fort Worth man pled guilty to robbing an Everman USPS carrier at gunpoint and stealing an Arrow Key, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Willis Bender, 18, robbed the carrier in September and was indicted in October after being found in possession of the key. He now faces up to 10 years in federal prison.
Similar crimes have recently occurred in Dallas, where the police department is contending with a chronic shortfall of officers. The Dallas Police Department has about 3,100 officers, despite a City analysis that shows 4,000 are needed to adequately patrol the city.
In addition, city leaders have allocated the DPD a budget this year of only $654 million, much less than that of other high-crime jurisdictions such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City.
These less-than-ideal circumstances are reflected in the city’s crime rate. According to the City of Dallas crime analytics dashboard, 663 robberies have been reported as of April 22. Last year, the city had a total of 2,325 robberies.
