ROCHESTER, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Mark Rogers, 38, Joseph Way a/k/a Gus, 36, and Tashara Levans, 37, all of Rochester, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr. to the kidnapping of a federal employee. The charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert A. Marangola, who is handling the case, stated that on Nov. 16, 2019, in the area of Second Street and Central Park in Rochester, the defendants kidnapped a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier while she was delivering mail. Rogers and Way confronted the mail carrier about a package she delivered to them. The package did not contain cocaine, which Rogers and Way were expecting, and the two men accused the mail carrier of taking the narcotics. Rogers and Way directed the mail carrier to a vehicle driven by Rogers’ girlfriend Tashara Levans. Over the next two hours, Levans drove Rogers and Way as they threatened to shoot and kill the mail carrier and her children if she did not provide either the cocaine, they believed she had stolen, or $70,000, which was the street value of the cocaine. Eventually, the mail carrier was released unharmed.
The conviction is the result of an investigation by U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Inspector-in-Charge Ketty Larco-Ward, Boston Division, and the Rochester Police Department, under the direction of Interim Chief David Smith.
Sentencing is scheduled for April 11, 2022, before Judge Geraci. #
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
