United States Attorney Richard W. Moore of the Southern District of Alabama announces that Uford Davis, a 44 year old resident of Mobile, Alabama was sentenced to 12 months in prison as a result of his conviction for possession with intent to distribute marijuana.

On March 20, 2019, Davis entered a guilty plea pursuant to a plea agreement and admitted in open court that in 2018, he conspired with U. S. mail carrier Unterria Rogers to distribute marijuana.  Specifically, Rogers’s duty station as a mail carrier was Midtown Station in Mobile.  Davis occasionally met Rogers along Rogers’s mail route and Rogers gave packages of marijuana to Davis who then paid Rogers quantities of cash.

 

On May 23, 2018, a surveillance operation determined Rogers met with Davis who was driving a Ford F150 along his route and handed off drug parcels with various addresses to Davis in exchange for the cash. This meeting was observed, and video recorded by a police helicopter. A short time later, Rogers was arrested.  He was found to have $2,610 in cash on his person and additional drug parcels in his postal truck, one of which was assigned to another route.  Davis was also simultaneously arrested and his vehicle searched.  Two parcels of marijuana just given to him by Rogers were seized from the F150 driven by Davis.

 

Davis was Mirandized and interviewed that day.  Davis said that he heard that Rogers worked for the postal service and could deliver marijuana to him.  Davis said that Rogers provided him with names and addresses to be put on packages.  Davis then passed that information on to his marijuana drug connection in California.  The California drug connection d then shipped marijuana to Mobile in the names of these people.  Davis received marijuana packages once or twice a week for the past six months.  Rogers made about eight to 10 successful delivers to Davis during that time.  Rogers attempted to deliver five more marijuana packages to Davis but was unsuccessful.  Davis paid $500 per pound of marijuana to his California connection and $250 per pound of marijuana to Rogers.  The two boxes seized from Davis F150 on May 23, 2018, contained 19 pounds of marijuana.  Rogers was paid $500 for the two packages he provided to Davis on May 23, 2018.  The total amount of marijuana attributed to Davis is approximately 123 pounds.

Inspectors of the United States Postal Inspection Service along with special agents of the United States Postal Service/Office of the Inspector General investigated the case and brought it to the U. S. Attorney's Office for prosecution.  The prosecutor assigned to the case is Assistant United States Attorney Gina S. Vann.

 

 

 

 

 United States Attorney Richard W. Moore of the Southern District of Alabama announces that Unterria Rogers, a 33 year old resident of Mobile, Alabama, was sentenced to 60 months in prison as a result of his conviction for use of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

On March 29, 2019, Rogers entered a guilty plea pursuant to a plea agreement and admitted in open court that in 2018, he was a United States mail Carrier.  During that year, the United States mail delivery databases showed a high volume of parcels suspected of containing narcotics destined to Mobile, Alabama city carrier route 009, a route assigned to Rogers.  Further analysis by United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General (USPS-OIG) special agents of the U. S. Postal Service databases identified numerous suspected drug parcels scanned delivered by Rogers away from the intended delivery addresses on his route.  An internal investigation by the USPS-OIG disclosed Rogers was utilizing his position as a city mail carrier to provide addresses from his assigned route to a drug source in California, so he could control, divert, and distribute drug parcels utilizing the U. S. Mail. These drug parcels contained illegal quantities of marijuana which he diverted and distributed to outside non-USPS employees in exchange for cash payments as he delivered mail along his assigned route.  Further, surveillance video disclosed Rogers rifling U.S. Mail that came into is possession to be delivered to addresses along his route to locate the quantities of marijuana.  Rogers is also captured on video leaving his mail truck to deliver the found quantities of marijuana to co-conspirators who met him at predetermined locations along his mail route.  Rogers was captured returning to his postal truck sitting in the driver’s seat counting amounts of cash he received from the co-conspirators in exchange for the quantities of marijuana.

Rogers was interviewed.  In total, Rogers admitted to opening approximately 25-30 U.S. mail parcels inside his postal truck.  Further, Rogers admitted to receiving cash in exchange for marijuana parcels being sent to his route and providing them to the three people. Rogers admitted to receiving on more than one occasion $250.00 per package.  In addition, Rogers provided verbal consent to a search of his residence and identified the key for entry into his residence.

 

Rogers stated that he acted as a middle man and provided addresses and account information to a local drug dealer who then provided the information to his California contact.  During a consent search of Rogers’s residence, $3,269 in U.S. currency, a DVR for house surveillance, and a set of digital scale were seized by agents.    The money was seized from the pocket of Rogers’s postal uniform. A review of Rogers’s DVR in-house video showed Rogers seated in front of a coffee table that had a handgun, a small quantity of marijuana and a set of digital scales in arms distance from him.  Firearms are tools of the drug trade used by illegal drug dealers to protect themselves and their product.  The firearm was brought to Rogers’s home for protection of them and their illegal drug activities by a co-conspirator, Lakeddrick Green.

The total amount of marijuana attributed to Rogers in the conspiracy was approximately 133 pounds.

Inspectors of the United States Postal Inspection Service along with special agents of the United States Postal Service/Office of the Inspector General investigated the case and brought it to the U. S. Attorney's Office for prosecution.  The prosecutor assigned to the case is Assistant United States Attorney Gina S. Vann.

United States Attorney Richard W. Moore of the Southern District of Alabama announced that four employees of the United States Postal Service were indicted for various crimes in connection with the distribution of marijuana.

On November 27, 2018, Unterria J. Rogers, a 33 year old resident of Mobile was indicted in two cases for conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute quantities of marijuana, use of a communication facility to distribute and possess with intent to distribute marijuana, distribution and possession with intent marijuana, use of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and embezzlement of packages from the U. S. mail entrusted to him for delivery.

On November 28, 2018, Devon Donald, a 26 year old resident of Mobile was indicted for conspiring to embezzle packages from the U. S. mail entrusted to him for delivery and embezzlement of six packages from the U.S. mail entrusted to him for delivery.

On November 28, 2018, Shambria Hill, a 25 year old resident of Mobile was indicted for conspiring to embezzle packages from the U. S. mail entrusted to her for delivery and embezzlement of three packages from the U.S. mail entrusted to her for delivery.

On November 28, 2018, Sade Martin, a 26 year old resident of Mobile was indicted for conspiring to embezzle packages from the U. S. mail entrusted to her for delivery and embezzlement of five packages from the U.S. mail entrusted to her for delivery.

“Most postal workers are honest and conscientious about their work and they would never become involved in the kinds of crimes that these four defendants have been charged by the Grand Jury,” United States Attorney Moore said. “The citizens of this district should not have to worry about whether the U.S. mail is being compromised and particularly by employees of the U.S. Postal Service. We take this kind of alleged conduct by Postal Service employees very seriously and I appreciate our law enforcement partners who aggressively investigated these cases and brought them to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”

“The U. S. mail has a wall of protection around it.  When postal inspectors discovered this scheme, they reached out to their law enforcement partners to start a multifaceted investigation that culminated in these indictments,” said Inspector in Charge, Adrian Gonzalez, and U.S. Postal Inspection Service.   Inspector in Charge Gonzalez went on the say, “along with federal agents of the Postal Inspection Service and the U. S. Postal Service/ Office of Inspector General (USPS-OIG), personnel from the Alabama State Bureau of Investigations, Customs and Border Patrol Air and marine Operations, Mobile County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Unit, and Homeland Security Investigations converged to conduct a series of intensive investigations, complex surveillance, and make arrests to defend our communities and their USPS mail service.”

 

Christopher Cave, Special Agent in Charge, USPS-OIG also commented saying that, “the federal indictments obtained are indicative of the hard work of our special agents who vigorously investigated this narcotics scheme.  Our office along with our law enforcement partners will continue to aggressively pursue these investigations.  Our agency will remain vigilant and strive to maintain the sanctity of the mail.”