U.S. attorney in Columbus: Man who robbed mail carriers at gunpoint is part of trend

Jordan Laird, The Columbus Dispatch
·2 min read
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On Sept. 8, Brandon Campbell, wearing a balaclava mask and bearing a Glock-style handgun robbed a carrier who had been delivering mail at the Vistas at Rocky Fork apartment complex in Gahanna, according to court documents. Campbell stole an "arrow key," a key used to access USPS mailboxes and receptacles, and vehicle keys
On Sept. 8, Brandon Campbell, wearing a balaclava mask and bearing a Glock-style handgun robbed a carrier who had been delivering mail at the Vistas at Rocky Fork apartment complex in Gahanna, according to court documents. Campbell stole an "arrow key," a key used to access USPS mailboxes and receptacles, and vehicle keys

A federal judge has sentenced a Columbus man to six years and six months in federal prison for robbing two U.S. Postal Service carriers in the Columbus-area at gunpoint two weeks apart in September.

U.S. District Judge Sarah D. Morrison sentenced Brandon J. Campbell, 21, on Wednesday. Campbell pleaded guilty in March to the robberies.

On Sept. 8, Campbell, wearing a balaclava mask and bearing a Glock-style handgun robbed a carrier who had been delivering mail at the Vistas at Rocky Fork apartment complex in Gahanna, according to court documents. Campbell stole an "arrow key," a key used to access USPS mailboxes and receptacles, and vehicle keys

On Sept. 21, Campbell again used a handgun and mask to steal an arrow key from a carrier who had been delivering mail near 4500 Hemingway Court in Columbus' Eastland area.

“This case represents two robberies in a string of assaults against postal carriers in Ohio,” said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio Kenneth L. Parker. “The sentence imposed here should serve as a reminder to anyone committing these crimes that you will be identified and prosecuted, and you will spend time in federal prison.”

In March, the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office posted a video on Facebook warning residents that thieves were using a key stolen from a postal worker earlier in the month to take mail from large blue mailboxes around the county.

In June, a U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Ohio announced that a federal grand jury had charged four men with robbing Postal Service carriers and stealing from the U.S. mail, among other crimes.

According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's office in Columbus, investigators caught Campbell by following his champagne-colored Saturn Aura. Authorities subsequently executed search warrants on an apartment Campbell fled into, as well as his vehicle.

Law enforcement officers discovered four firearms in that apartment, in addition to the mask used in the earlier robbery. Forensic examination of Campbell’s iPhone showed the phone was in the location of both robberies during the timeframe of the robberies, court records state.

Jordan Laird is a criminal justice reporter at the Columbus Dispatch. You can reach her at jlaird@dispatch.com. You can follow her on Twitter at 

@LairdWrites.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus man sentenced to 6.5 years for robbing mail carriers