Docs: Man admits to postal worker robbery at gunpoint
HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — Gary Saunders was cutting the grass outside his Galax Street home last May when he noticed two men in ski masks crouched in the bushes two houses down. He saw one man, later identified by postal inspectors as 21-year-old O’Sirus Ford, holding a gun. Saunders kept cutting.
“I was trying to be coy about it because I didn’t want the guy to shoot me,” Saunders told 10 On Your Side about the May 9, 2023 incident.
Saunders watched the pair ambush a U.S. postal worker as he delivered mail, demanding his master key — also known as an arrow key — or else he’d get shot. He handed over the key and the pair ran off.
Saunders’ wife Jeannie had just pulled up to the house when she saw federal police cars lining the street. She consoled the mail carrier.
“He said he didn’t want to die over a key,” Jeannie Saunders said. “He said it was his first day on the job and he didn’t say he was going to work any more but we didn’t see him after that.”
Court documents obtained by 10 On Your Side revealed that Ford planned the robbery. They also stated that in April 2023, Ford joined a Facebook group called “three keys,” where members detailed how to steal arrow keys and sell them on the black market or use them to commit check fraud and identity theft.
Twenty-four hours before the Hampton robbery, Ford admitted that he and others robbed a postal worker of his keys at the 2600 block of Ballentine Boulevard in Norfolk.
Ford has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and for using a firearm in a violent crime. He faces 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the first charge and seven years to life in prison for the second charge, along with a $250,000 fine.
“It made us a little afraid in the neighborhood for a while, too,” Jeannie Saunders said, “because we didn’t know where they were, if they had been caught, if they’d come back.”
Two others, Da’Twan Watson and Jayden Stukes, were taken into custody for the Hampton robbery and will be sentenced this spring.
M.J. Romano, a postal inspector for the Washington Division, sent us the following:
The increase in crime throughout the country over the past several years has resulted in escalating criminal incidents against United States Postal Service (USPS) employees and the mail. Every postal employee deserves to work in safety and to be free from targeting by criminals seeking to access the public’s mail. In an increasingly challenging environment, the United States Postal Service (USPS) and the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) are highly focused on protecting postal employees and property and ensuring the secure delivery of the nation’s mail and packages.
Recognizing these ongoing safety threats, we have been – and will continue to- implement an engaged, robust nationwide initiative to harden blue collection boxes, enhance collection box key and lock technology and institute dual authentication for change of address protocols. These measures not only protect the integrity of the mail but offer additional safeguards for our carriers and other employees. Furthermore, USPS and USPIS are partnering with federal and local authorities to enforce the laws and bring criminals to justice.
We will continue to adapt to evolving security threats and implement expanded measures to safeguard our employees and preserve the security of the mail that our customers expect and deserve. The U.S. Postal Service continues to implement additional preventative, protection, and enforcement measures.
In addition to these efforts of USPS, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service is also dedicated to educating the American public on crime prevention steps they can take to help protect the mail and mail carriers. Customers can take several steps to protect their mail and their carriers, including:
Service encourages customers to report stolen mail as soon as possible by submitting an online complaint at www.uspis.gov/report or calling 877-876-2455.
In 2022, 412 letter carriers were robbed on the job. 305 were robbed during the first half of 2023.
M.J. Romano, postal inspector for the Washington Division
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