Second Providence Man Admits To Assaulting, Threatening Mailman

PROVIDENCE, RI — A Providence man admitted in federal court Tuesday he was one of two men who assaulted a U.S. Postal Service worker in November 2021, while the carrier was delivering mail in South Providence.

Branley Ferreras-Severino, 22, pleaded guilty to assault of a federal employee.

According to court documents, Ferreras-Severino and Isamael Colon Pena, 19, of Providence, were seated inside a BMW sedan that stopped on a narrow South Providence street. The road was only wide enough to allow one vehicle to pass at a time.

As the postal driver maneuvered his truck past the stopped BMW, the postman smiled at the car’s driver in acknowledgement of the brief awkwardness.

This was not the end of the interaction, though. Ferreras-Severino admitted he repeatedly punched the mailman, when the worker returned to his truck after delivering packages to a nearby house.

He also admitted he was standing by the mail truck and said, “You think it’s funny? You almost hit me. You wanna get popped?” The carrier took that to mean being shot with a gun.

Pena, who was Ferreras-Severino's passenger, also admitted to assaulting the mailman, pleading guilty in February 2023.

The mail carrier attempted to fend off the attack and then ran from the area while dialing 911 for help. He provided investigators with the license plate number of the car driven by Ferreras-Severino, which they learned was registered to Ferreras-Severino’s mother, prosecutors said.

As part of the investigation, U.S. Postal Service Inspectors obtained security videos from a nearby home, which captured the attack. The mailman identified both defendants from photographs shown to him by investigators, prosecutors said.

Ferreras-Severino is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 22. Colon-Pena was sentenced to a year in the deferred sentencing program. As a result of their convictions, both men, Dominican Republic nationals, face deportation proceedings

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