Four people have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of stealing mail from a U.S. Postal Service mailbox in Chevy Chase as well as multiple postal service keys, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.
The four defendants were charged July 21 with theft of mail matter and the unlawful possession of postal service keys, according to a Friday press release. The defendants are:
- Eyalan Owona, 21, of Upper Malboro
- Ibrahim Kourouma, 22, of Glenarden
- Ali Dickerson, 20, of Hyattsville
- Benjamin Washington, 22, of Owings Mills
According to the indictment, the alleged thieves obtained the keys with the intent to use, sell and dispose of them on May 25. Authorities say they stole mail from a postal box on Stanford Street in Chevy Chase the same day.
Among the items stolen from the Chevy Chase mailbox were some that belonged to a person with a Silver Spring address, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Authorities say the four who allegedly stole mail in Chevy Chase were arrested as part of a larger investigation into a series of armed robberies of postal service workers in the greater Washington, D.C., region. At least 13 robberies of carriers occurred in the region between May 23 and July 7, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Owona, Dickerson and Washington were scheduled to appear in federal court Friday while Kourouma remains a fugitive, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Dan Schere can be reached at daniel.schere@bethesdda-remix.newspackstaging.com