Two men from Columbus have pleaded guilty in a case involving the armed robbery of a United States Postal Service (USPS) mail carrier, according to the Southern District of Ohio U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Da’mon D. May, 18, and Cody N. Beasley, also known as “Drose,” 22, are two of three defendants charged in the case.
On April 4 at 3:20 p.m., May (pictured above, right) and the third defendant, Mahad S. Jama, 21, of Westerville, robbed a USPS letter carrier at gunpoint. The carrier was sitting in his work vehicle on Sawmill Road in Dublin at the time of the robbery, according to court documents cited by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Jama (pictured above, left), according to the attorney’s office, allegedly approached the USPS vehicle, brandished a handgun that May provided him, and demanded the carrier’s USPS key. May admitted in his plea that he provided Jama with a 9mm handgun just prior to the robbery.
Beasley aided and abetted May and Jama in the robbery.
The defendants robbed the USPS carrier of an “arrow key” that gives access to mail collection boxes, which, as noted by the attorney’s office, is commonly used by thieves to steal checks from collection boxes.
Investigators found the stolen postal key while searching May’s residence on April 13.
On Thursday, May pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the aggravated robbery of property of the United States – a crime punishable by up to 25 years in prison. May also pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the brandishing of a firearm during a crime of violence, which carries a potential sentence between seven years and life in prison.
Beasley pleaded guilty to possessing stolen mail in another district and to aiding and abetting the aggravated robbery of property of the United States in this case.
Beasley also admitted to previously stealing a postal key in March 2023 in the Cleveland area. In that case, Beasley and Jama were stopped for a traffic violation in Parma Heights and fled from law enforcement before officers detained the men and searched the vehicle, discovering a black trash bag with numerous pieces of mail that had not yet been postmarked. In addition, a search of Beasley’s phone at the time also revealed pictures of stolen checks and research about 38 post offices and blue USPS collection boxes in Cleveland.
In addition, while Beasley and Jama were detained in jail together for the previous crimes in the Northern District of Ohio, Beasley admitted he began planning for a new postal robbery in Dublin, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Mahad Jama” and “Damon May” by Franklin County Jail.
