LOS ANGELES - A former United States Postal Service employee pleaded guilty today to federal criminal charges for participating in one burglary and two armed robberies of USPS trucks carrying cash - incidents that caused nearly a quarter million dollars in losses.
William Crosby IV, 32, of Inglewood, pleaded guilty to two felonies: robbery of United States property and using a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime. United States District Judge S. James Otero scheduled an October 28 sentencing hearing, at which time Crosby will face a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison along with a mandatory consecutive sentence of seven years’ imprisonment.
Crosby admitted in his plea agreement that between August 2017 and March 2018, while a USPS employee, he conspired with others to plan a theft and two robberies of USPS trucks carrying cash. The burglary and armed robberies caused cash losses of $238,457, Crosby admitted in his plea agreement.
As a former supervisor, Crosby knew when the USPS transported cash generated from the sale of money orders and USPS merchandise - information that is not known to all Postal Service employees, according to a federal grand jury indictment.
On Aug. 1, 2017, Crosby signaled to his co-conspirators that a Postal Service truck carrying a large amount of cash was on the loading dock at the Dockweiler Post Office in South Los Angeles. A co-conspirator wearing a Postal Service shirt walked onto the loading dock and stole a container inside the truck that contained $128,236 in cash.
On Feb. 1, 2018, Crosby, then assigned to the Wagner Post Office in Los Angeles near the city boundary with Inglewood, provided information to co-conspirators that a USPS truck carrying cash was leaving the facility. During the robbery, in which Crosby acted as a lookout, a minivan blocked the USPS truck just outside the Wagner Post Office, the robber threatened the truck driver at gunpoint, and the robber stole $37,658 in cash.
On March 1, 2018, Crosby took sick leave without pay from his job at the Wagner Post Office. On that date, however, he again conspired to rob a post office, this time the Dockweiler Post Office, where he previously worked. Less than one hour before the robbery, Crosby parked at a grocery store parking lot across the street from the Dockweiler Post Office in a spot where he could see the post office’s loading dock area.
After the USPS truck left the facility, Crosby, along with his co-conspirators, followed the truck, according to the plea agreement. A co-conspirator rented a Mercedes-Benz SUV and used that vehicle to box in the USPS truck as it exited the southbound 110 Freeway at Slauson Avenue. At that time, another co-conspirator exited another vehicle, brandished a gun to control the USPS driver, and stole $72,563 in cash, the plea agreement states.
Crosby’s co-defendant, his half-brother Myron Crosby, 28, of Inglewood, is scheduled to go to trial in this case on September 3.
This matter was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service and the United States Secret Service.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Thomas F. Rybarczyk of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section, and Jeffrey M. Chemerinsky of the Violent and Organized Crime Section.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
