Kenneth Demosthene, 24, of Stoughton, Massachusetts, was sentenced to three years in prison for his role in the armed robberies of two United States Postal Service (USPS) letter carriers. The robberies occurred in Mattapan on November 29, 2022, and in Hyde Park on December 16, 2022. In one of the incidents, Demosthene threatened the letter carrier with a knife.
Demosthene pleaded guilty in July 2024 to two counts of robbery of a person having lawful charge of mail matter or property of the United States, and two counts of assaulting or impeding certain officers or employees.
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He was indicted in May 2023 along with his alleged co-conspirator, Myesha Lewis, who is expected to plead guilty on October 30, 2024.
The case highlights a concerning trend of arrow key thefts from USPS letter carriers. Arrow keys are used to open designated blue USPS collection boxes, and their possession by unauthorized individuals is a federal offense. Since July 2022, there have been at least 23 assaults on USPS letter carriers in the Boston area, many involving attempts to steal arrow keys. In many of these incidents, the perpetrators were armed with weapons.
In the Mattapan robbery, Demosthene and allegedly Lewis forcibly robbed a letter carrier of an arrow key, breaking the chain that secured it to the carrier’s belt. In the Hyde Park robbery, they threatened another letter carrier with a knife before stealing the arrow key.
Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV of the U.S. District Court in Boston sentenced Demosthene to three years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Luke A. Goldworm of the Major Crimes Unit, with assistance from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General.
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