COLUMBUS, Ohio — Two Columbus men pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to crimes related to an armed robbery of a mail carrier in April, according to U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker.
Da’mon May, 18, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the aggravated robbery of property of the United States and aiding and abetting the brandishing of a firearm during a crime of violence.
Cody Beasley, 22, pleaded guilty to possessing stolen mail in another district and to aiding and abetting the aggravated robbery of property of the United States.
May and Beasley are two of three defendants charged in the case.
The third defendant, Mahad Jama, 21, of Westerville, pleaded guilty in September.
According to court documents, on April 4, May and Jama robbed a USPS mail carrier at gunpoint while he was sitting in his work vehicle on Sawmill Road in Dublin.
Jama allegedly approached the USPS vehicle, took out a handgun that May provided him, and demanded the carrier’s U.S. Postal Service key. Beasley aided and abetted them in that robbery.
The defendants robbed the worker of an “arrow key” that gives access to mail collection boxes.
May admitted in his plea that he provided Jama a 9mm handgun just prior to the robbery. On April 13, investigators discovered the stolen postal key at May’s residence.
10TV has previously reported on how thieves use service keys to get inside USPS mailboxes and receptacles to steal checks. The checks are then washed or changed with a new name and new dollar amount, then cashed at a bank.
Beasly was previously arrested in December 2019 for bank fraud, stealing mail and forging checks from August to November. When he was arrested, police found more than 200 stolen checks on him and 500 bank checks in various names at his apartment, along with thousands of dollars, a shotgun and a handgun.
The attorney's office added that while Beasley and Jama were detained in jail together, Beasley admits he began planning for a new postal robbery in Dublin. Beasley directed the April 4 armed robbery and later paid Jama for his alleged role in the theft.