Men seeking master keys for blue mail boxes plead guilty to robbing Dallas-area letter carriers

The men who robbed eight mail carriers in the dallas-Fort Worth area in pursuit of master keys to open blue collection boxes have pleaded guilty, a news release from the U.S. Justice Department states.

Jerrad Coleman, 18, and Louis Dixon, 18, were charged via criminal complaint in April, according to an announcement by U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.

Dixon pleaded guilty June 26 to robbery of property of the United States and conspiracy to rob and unlawfully possess property of the United States, while Coleman pleaded guilty to the same charges July 2, the news release states.

“The U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service will never cease placing employee safety as one of our top priorities,” Inspector in Charge Kai Pickens of the Fort Worth Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said in the news release.

“Let this serve as a warning to anyone who seeks to harm and traumatize our employees: The U.S. Postal Inspection Service will utilize every resource to find you and bring you to justice,” Pickens said. “I appreciate our partnerships with the U.S. Attorney’s Office as well as the arlington Police Department, Dallas Police Department, Fort Worth Police Department, and Frisco Police Department, which assisted with the investigation into Mr. Coleman and Mr. Dixon.”

According to court documents, Coleman and Dixon searched the streets of Dallas-Fort Worth looking for U.S. Postal Service letter carriers to rob because they wanted an Arrow Key — the master key used by letter carriers to collect mail deposited in blue collection boxes. The keys are highly sought by mail thieves.

After the robberies, which often took place at gunpoint, the men fled in getaway vehicles, then unlawfully used, sold or disposed of the Arrow Keys.

Both men face up to 15 years in federal prison.

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