One Defendant Arrested for Robberies of USPS Letter Carriers; After Car Chase Other Defendant’s Vehicle Was Found to Contain a Ghost-Gun and 54 Rounds of Ammunition, Among Stolen Mail, Postal Keys, and Fraudulent Documents
A four-count indictment was unsealed in United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York charging Kevin Grant with being a felon in possession of ammunition, possession of five or more false identification documents, possessing stolen United States Postal Service (USPS) arrow keys, and possessing stolen mail. The indictment was returned by a federal grand jury sitting in Brooklyn, New York on November 17, 2023, and relates to Grant’s alleged activities on October 3, 2023.
On October 31, 2023, Tyrone Santos was indicted by a grand jury sitting in the Eastern District of New York for the assault and robbery of two USPS letter carriers, on September 30, 2023, and October 14, 2023, respectively, who were on their delivery routes within the East New York area of Brooklyn. The indictment charges Santos with two counts for each robbery of a U.S. Postal Service employee and two counts for the theft of the postal keys from those employees.
Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and Daniel Brubaker, Inspector-in-Charge, United States Postal Inspection Service, New York Division (USPIS), and Edward A. Caban, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD) announced the
“As these cases demonstrate, whether it is breaking into a Postal relay box, and possessing a ghost gun or assaulting postal workers, our Office will use all tools available to prosecute those who harm our public servants or public services,” stated U.S. Attorney Breon Peace. “I encourage all to educate themselves and take steps to protect their mail, and for bad actors to recognize the consequences involved in these crimes.”
“Today’s indictment is an example of the commitment of Postal Inspectors to spare no resource in their pursuit to bring those to justice who violate the sanctity of the U.S. Mail, commit criminal acts against USPS letter carriers, and steal from the public. Their reign of terror has ended against our letter carriers, and now they will face the justice they so rightly deserve. I would also like to acknowledge the role of our USPIS NYPD Task Force Officers in this fight. Together, and in partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, eight additional defendants have been charged federally with mail theft related crimes in the past year,” said Inspector in Charge of the New York Division, Daniel B. Brubaker.
“The crimes outlined in these indictments bear witness to what has unfortunately become a national trend, and such acts will never be tolerated in New York City,” said NYPD Commissioner Edward A. Caban. “Together with our federal partners, the NYPD remains committed to using every resource at our disposal to protect the integrity of our mail service and eradicate violent crime in all its forms.”
To combat the rise in mail fraud crimes, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District is highlighting how to protect your mail through flyers translated into English, Spanish and Mandarin. Postal Inspectors and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York encourage all mail theft victims to report it directly to the Postal Inspection Service. Each report is helpful in building impactful cases against those responsible. You can report mail theft, identity theft, fraud or other crimes involving the U.S. mail by calling the Postal Inspection Service’s national toll-free number at 1-877-876-2455 or by going to http://uspis.gov/repor and filing an electronic report.
U.S. v. Grant
According to the criminal complaint previously filed against the defendant, on September 5, 2023, the defendant was observed in a black BMW 535 series sedan with Florida license plate #DEP3 that was involved in the unauthorized accessing of a USPS relay box in the Flatbush area of Brooklyn (the “Subject BMW”). Similarly, on September 11, 2023, video surveillance appeared to capture a vehicle consistent with the Subject BMW but with Pennsylvania license plate #MCR5107 that was also involved in the theft of mail from a relay box in the Parkville area of Brooklyn.
On October 3, 2023, NYPD officers initiated a traffic stop of a vehicle consistent with the Subject BMW. As the officers approached the vehicle, the defendant, who was the sole occupant of the vehicle, rolled down his window, observed the officers, and then fled in the vehicle. After a chase, the defendant abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot.
NYPD officers seized the vehicle and conducted an inventory search, during which they discovered a personally manufactured firearm without a serial number (also known as a “ghost gun”) loaded with 15 rounds of ammunition and an additional 39 rounds of ammunition.
The officers also found evidence related to the mail thefts, including the same Florida license plate #DEP3 that had been observed on the Subject BMW during the defendant’s unauthorized access to the relay box on or about September 5, 2023. In addition, within a duffle bag in the vehicle, they found genuine postal arrow keys for the Flatbush area and the Parkville area, a postal uniform, mail addressed to individuals in the Flatbush Area and approximately 100 checks not belonging to the defendant (several of which appeared to have been made out by residents of the Flatbush area).
Within the same duffle bag, NYPD officers also uncovered approximately five fraudulent social security cards with names of other individuals on them, blank credit cards, credit cards with the names of other individuals on them, several identification documents with the defendant’s picture but bearing different names and additional identification documents bearing other pictures and names.
The charges in the
The government’s case is being prosecuted by the Office’s General Crimes Section. Assistant United States Attorney Sean M. Sherman is in charge of the prosecution with the assistance of Paralegal Specialist Stephanie Heyward.
U.S. v. Santos
As alleged in the criminal complaint previously filed against the defendant, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) was investigating two robberies of U.S. Postal Service mail carriers while they were on their routes. Both robberies took place two weeks apart, on September 30, 2023 and October 14, 2023, and bore similar characteristics. In both robberies, surveillance footage reveals a perpetrator with similar physical characteristics, wearing similar attire: a gray hooded sweatshirt, black jeans, and tan shoes. Additionally, in both robberies, this perpetrator surveilled young, slight-in-stature female postal carriers on their mail routes, accosted them with a weapon—in the first robbery using what appears to be a pipe and in the second robbery using a firearm—demanded their arrow keys, and then fled the scene. Both robberies took place in a very limited geographic area, within four blocks of each other, and the perpetrator fled to the same residential building after both robberies.
The investigation led authorities to Santos, who was arrested on October 20, 2023, and charged by a federal criminal complaint with the theft of a postal key from a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier. Santos was arrested in his Brooklyn residence without incident by the U.S. Marshals Service Regional Fugitive Task Force, U.S. Postal Inspectors, and the USPIS NYPD Task Force Officers. Separately, the USPIS NYPD Task Force Officers arrested Santos on state first-degree robbery charges.
Santos was arraigned on the criminal complaint on October 20, 2023, before United States
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