Boston woman pleads guilty to armed robberies of mail carriers

A Boston woman has pleaded guilty in federal court to the armed robberies of U.S. Postal Service (USPS) letter carriers in 2022, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Friday.

Myesha Lewis, 22, pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery of any person having lawful charge, control, or custody of any mail matter or of any money or other property of the U.S., two counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees, and aiding and abetting.

The charges followed a May 2023 federal grand jury indictment of Lewis and her co-defendant, 23-year-old Kenneth Demoshane, of Stoughton.

The armed robberies happened on Nov. 29, 2022, in Mattapan and Dec. 16, 2022, in Hyde Park.

Federal officials say the USPS has seen a rise in criminals using arrow keys to steal U.S. Mail. An arrow key is designed to open designated blue USPS collection boxes in a specific area. USPS owns them, and it’s a federal offense for an “unauthorized person” to possess one. 

Since July 2022, there have been at least 23 assaults on USPS letter carriers in Boston and nearby communities. Investigators say that in some of those cases, the assailants were specifically seeking arrow keys. In 15 of those robberies, the suspects were armed with a knife, firearm, or both.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, in the Mattapan incident, Lewis and Demosthene forcibly robbed a USPS letter carrier of an arrow key. Demosthene approached the postal worker and said, “I’m going to need your master key,” before reaching into their mail satchel and grabbing the arrow key. 

“The key was secured around the letter carrier’s belt with a brass chain. The force used to physically break the brass chain caused the letter carrier to be pulled off the front steps. Lewis and Demosthene then fled the scene in a rental vehicle,” federal officials said in a news release.

In the Hyde Park theft, Lewis and Demosthene robbed another USPS letter carrier of an arrow key at knifepoint. During that robbery, Demosthene approached the carrier and said, “Give me your f—g arrow key.” 

“The letter carrier put their hands in the air as the defendants attempted to remove the arrow key, at first by force pulling at the chain. Lewis and Demosthene then attempted to cut it with the knife, eventually breaking it loose and fleeing the scene on foot,” officials said.

The robbery charge carries a sentence of up to 25 years in prison, according to prosecutors. The assault charge provides for a sentence of up to 20 years. After pleading guilty to the charges in July, Demosthene was sentenced last month to three years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.