St. Paul man sentenced to 18 months for assault, attempted robbery of USPS employee

Nick Woltman, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.
·1 min read

Jul. 30—A St. Paul man was sentenced this week to 18 months in prison for assaulting and attempting to rob an Oakdale postal worker.

James Wilbert Jackson, Jr., 23, pleaded guilty in March to one count of assault and attempted robbery of a U.S. Postal Service employee, according to court documents. Following his prison sentence, Jackson will serve three years of supervised release.

"This defendant attacked an innocent U.S. Postal Service employee, a public servant, who was simply doing his job," acting U.S. Attorney W. Anders Folk said in a news release. "Postal workers are frontline employees who serve the public during challenging times, particularly throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and they deserve to be safe and free from violence as they carry out their duties."

On June 4, 2020, Jackson attempted several times to pick up a package from an Oakdale post office, according to the his plea agreement with prosecutors. Each time, a postal supervisor refused to release the package to Jackson because his name and address didn't match those of the package's sender or the recipient.

Shortly before the post office closed, Jackson leapt over the counter and ran into the back office, where the postal supervisor attempted to stop him.

Jackson punched the supervisor several times before other postal employees were able to restrain him, leaving the supervisor with cuts and bruises on his head, along with a broken finger on his left hand, the plea agreement said.

When investigators searched the package Jackson was trying to retrieve, they found it contained about 500 grams of marijuana.