Four Charged With Stealing Postal Service Keys, Mail From Bethesda

BETHESDA, MD — Four Maryland residents were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of stealing mail from a U.S. Postal Service mailbox in Maryland and unlawfully possessing USPS keys, according to the Department of Justice.

The grand jury indictments were returned on July 21 and unsealed Friday after three of the suspects were arrested.

The arrests occurred as part of a larger police investigation into a series of violent armed robberies of USPS letter carriers in the D.C. area, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.

During the robberies, letter carriers were targeted for proprietary keys that are used to open USPS mail collection boxes. At least 13 robberies involving USPS letter carriers took place in the D.C. area between May 23 and July 7, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

The four people whose indictments were unsealed on Friday were Eyalan Owona, 21, of Upper Malboro, Maryland; Ibrahim Kourouma, 22, of Glenarden, Maryland; Ali Dickerson, 20, of Hyattsville, Maryland; and Benjamin Washington, 22, of Owings Mills, Maryland.

Owona, Dickerson and Washington were scheduled to be arraigned last Friday in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. Kourouma has yet to be arrested, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

According to the two-count indictment, the suspects unlawfully possessed USPS keys on May 25 with the intent to use, sell and dispose of the keys. On the same day, the suspects stole mail from a USPS depository for mail on Stanford Street in Bethesda. The stolen mail belonged to a person with a Silver Spring address, according to the indictment.

If convicted on the current charges, the four people each face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

The United States Postal Inspection Service is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information that leads to the identification, arrest and conviction of any other people involved in USPS letter carrier robberies.

Mail theft or other crimes against the USPS can be reported by contacting the United States Postal Inspection Service at 1-877-876-2455 or https://www.uspis.gov/report.