UPDATE: This story was updated Thursday with a statement from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
Four Essex County men have been accused by federal authorities of robbing a United States Postal Service employee at gunpoint last year, U.S. District Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced Wednesday.
Troy D. Corbett Jr., 28, Dyshawn Williams, 28, and Antwuan Brown, 24, all of Newark, were charged with conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery. Karieem Stamps, 25, also of Newark was charged with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Brown was also charged with wire fraud and identify theft.
Prosecutors accused the men of holding a postal employee at gunpoint while robbing the person of a cellphone, keys and wallet in November 2023. They are also accused of stopping the employee from delivering mail, which interfered with interstate commerce.
After the robbery, Brown and Stamps allegedly used a stolen debit card to make purchases at a BP gas station just over a mile away.
Surveillance footage from the gas station captured Brown getting out of a car and using the stolen debit card at the gas station, something Brown later confessed to police after his arrest, charging documents showed.
Stamps is accused by authorities in charging documents of using the stolen debit card at a Wendy’s less than half a mile from the gas station shortly after leaving it. Stamps was under parole supervision at the time of the robbery, and was identified in surveillance footage from the Wendy’s by his parole officer, the complaint alleged.
Two of the men charged were previously convicted of drug charges and weapons offenses, according to authorities.
Corbett, who was previously convicted of felony offenses in 2018, was found on Jan. 18 with methamphetamine and a loaded pistol with 16 rounds during a traffic stop after the car he was driving was flagged in a connection to an armed robbery investigation.
Stamps had also had a previous felony conviction from 2020, and on Aug. 1 was found with a handgun loaded with an extended magazine and approximately 25 rounds of ammunition after authorities searched his home.
Corbett, Williams and Stamps were arrested on Aug. 1 in Newark and detained after their initial court appearance. Brown was arrested on the same day in Mecklenburg, North Carolina, and was detained after his initial court appearance.
“The safety and security of USPS employees is our highest calling and the mission of the Postal Inspection Service,” Greg Kliemisch from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said Thursday.
Since May 2023, the U.S Postal Service has implemented Project Safe Delivery, a joint initiative with the intent to counter postal crimes and protecting postal employees and U.S. mail, Kliemisch said. The postal service has also added new digital security features at many drop boxes around New Jersey and updated locks and keys that mail carriers use to access drop boxes.
“Tens of thousands of antiquated locks have been replaced with electronic mechanisms with more to come,” Kliemisch added. “These updated mechanisms have an electronic component, that thieves will be unable to duplicate, removing the very thing criminals are seeking in robberies of our letter carrier, their postal keys.”
From May 2023 to June 30, 2024, Kliemisch said the Postal Inspection Service has made 1,700 arrests regarding mail theft and postal robberies.
Attorneys for the four men did not immediately return requests for comment.
Stories by Matthew Enuco
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