Four Maryland residents were charged with mail theft from Bethesda.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Maryland, a federal grand jury returned an indictment against the four suspects for mail theft and unlawful possession of postal service keys.
Arrested Friday were Eyalan Owona, 21, of Upper Marlboro; Ibrahim Kourouma, 22, of Glenarden; Ali Dickerson, 20, of Hyattsville; and Benjamin Washington, 22, of Owings Mills. Three of the defendants have court appearances scheduled in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. Kourouma remains a fugitive, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The defendants allegedly unlawfully possessed postal service keys on May 25 with the intent to use, sell and dispose of the keys, according to the news release. On the same day, the defendants allegedly stole mail from a U.S. Postal Service depository on Stanford Street in Bethesda. The mail that was stolen included the mail of a person in Silver Spring.
These arrests are part of a larger law enforcement investigation into a series of violent armed robberies of letter carriers. Investigators believe the letter carriers were targeted to gain the keys that open mail collection boxes. This has happened at least 13 times in the Washington, D.C. area between May 23 and July 7, according to the news release.
If convicted, the defendants face a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison for possession of the postal service keys and five years in federal prison for theft of mail matter.
United States Attorney Erek L. Barron thanked the Montgomery County Police Department and the United States Park Police for their assistance.
— US Attorney Maryland (@USAO_MD) July 29, 2022
