A Washington, D.C. man has been convicted in a violent mail theft scheme that turned neighborhood cluster boxes into lucrative crime scenes and left postal workers looking over their shoulders on routine routes.
After an eight-day trial in federal court in Greenbelt, jurors on Friday found 30-year-old DeAngelo Lewis guilty of charges including armed robbery, mail theft, and bank fraud for a 2022 string of holdups targeting United States Postal Service carriers. Prosecutors said the scheme ultimately pushed nearly $1 million in altered checks through the banking system and left several carriers shaken after being robbed on the job.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maryland, evidence at trial showed Lewis and co-conspirators robbed seven mail carriers across Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., forcibly taking postal-service master keys used to open neighborhood cluster mailboxes. Investigators later found roughly 1,500 stolen checks at Lewis's Marlow Heights apartment, sorted by origin and totaling nearly $3 million in face value. At least 60 of those checks, altered and worth nearly $1 million, were traced to deposits linked to the group, prosecutors said.
How investigators closed in
Local reporting and court accounts indicate the investigation leaned heavily on bank surveillance footage, doorbell and business security cameras, and phone data that placed Lewis and others near targeted post offices just before key thefts. Officers arrested Lewis on October 27 after watching him exit a Dodge Challenger in Potomac and discovering a recently stolen postal key inside the car. One accomplice was reportedly wearing a USPS shirt at the time, according to Daily Voice Glen Burnie.
Checks, keys and a high-stakes paper trail
Prosecutors told jurors the stolen master keys gave the crew free run of community mailboxes, where they pulled out checks, altered them, and then negotiated them at banks. The U.S. Postal Service and its inspection arm have mounted a nationwide enforcement push in recent years, with stepped-up arrests and targeted operations they say are aimed at protecting carriers and the integrity of mailed payments, according to a national USPS release.
What comes next
Two firearm counts on which Lewis was convicted carry mandatory minimum prison terms that must run back-to-back, meaning he faces at least 12 years behind bars on those charges alone. Prosecutors say additional counts carry maximum penalties that could include life in prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
Two alleged co-conspirators have already pleaded guilty in connection with the scheme, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in its release.
Postal inspectors and local police praised the multi-agency investigation and urged residents to take basic precautions with mailed payments and to keep an eye on neighborhood cluster boxes. Anyone with surveillance video or tips about suspicious activity near postal boxes is asked to contact the USPS Office of Inspector General or local police.
