A Stoughton man was sentenced to 3 years in federal jail for his function in two robberies of postal carriers in Mattapan and in Hyde Park in late 2022 — with one of many robberies completed at knifepoint.
Kenneth Demosthene, 24, pleaded responsible to 2 counts of theft in July 2024. On Tuesday, U.S. District Courtroom Chief Decide F. Dennis Saylor IV sentenced him to 3 years in jail to be adopted by three years of supervised launch. The sentence was fairly a bit shorter than the 4 years and three months prosecutor Luke Goldworm requested for in his sentencing memo.
“Can I ask you a question,” Demosthene stated as he walked as much as a mail service on Hiawatha Highway in Mattapan at 2 within the afternoon on Nov. 29, 2022. “I’m going to need your master key.”
Demosthenes then reached out, in accordance with court docket paperwork, and grabbed on the service’s Arrow key, which was secured to the Postal Service worker with a brass chain. The service informed investigators that Demosthenes “yanked pretty hard” on the important thing, sufficient to pop the chain.
These “Arrow keys” are utilized by the U.S. Postal Service to open the blue assortment bins one sees alongside sidewalks. Not solely do individuals ship letters by inserting them in these bins, however additionally they use them to mail checks — and “as a result, criminals routinely target USPS first-class mail placed in blue collection boxes to steal checks,” U.S. Postal Inspector Daniel Lee wrote in an affidavit supporting the costs.
Demosthenes then fled the realm and, in accordance with space surveillance video, entered a Zipcar to make his getaway with the grasp key alongside together with his alleged co-conspirator Myesha Lewis.
Surveillance footage additionally noticed that along with his black face masks, he wore a black hooded sweatshirt with the phrases “Lonely Hearts Club” written prominently on the again — a evaluation of information from the producer of that shirt confirmed that he was solely 5 individuals in Massachusetts to order the merchandise.
The second theft passed off in Hyde Park on Dec. 16, 2022, a bit of earlier than 5 p.m. and focused yet one more grasp key. This time, although, the robber who each victims described as fairly brief and thin didn’t depart something to probability. He labored with a associate and switched out a roughly 3-inch blade as he approached the mail service.
“Give me your (expletive) Arrow key,” he yelled on the mail service.
Demosthenes’ actions weren’t uncommon, however simply two extra in a burgeoning prison area, in accordance with paperwork filed within the case. There had been 13 assaults on letter carriers within the rapid Boston space when the costs have been filed in Could 2023, and in accordance with the U.S. Legal professional’s workplace that quantity had grown to 23 by the point of Demosthenes’ sentencing.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service noting an uptick between 2016 and 2021 in “mailbox fishing” in Massachusetts. That is utilizing on a regular basis objects to attempt to “fish” letters, and hopefully checks, from the bins if the prison doesn’t have an arrow key.
In response, the usP.S. labored to harden the bins towards “fishing-related mail theft,” however that solely led to a spike in Arrow key theft.
A Herald request for remark from the Nationwide Affiliation of Letter Carriers, the union representing mail carriers, was not returned by deadline Wednesday.
