Letter Carrier Sentenced To 15 Years In Prison For Plotting Robbery Of Fellow Postal Worker

ATLANTA - LaTonya Evans, a former United Stated Postal Service employee, has been sentenced to federal prison for participating in a conspiracy that culminated in the robbery and shooting of a postal truck driver on December 20, 2013, in Conley, Ga.

“By providing her co-defendants with inside information, Evans enabled a robbery that nearly killed her co-worker,” said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates.  “Evans used her knowledge of the Postal Service for personal gain and violated the trust of the public and her fellow postal workers.”

“The safety and security of Postal Service employees is core to the mission of the Postal Inspection Service. Postal Inspectors are committed to bringing to justice those who commit violent crimes against postal employees.” said Thomas Noyes, Postal Inspector in Charge of the Charlotte Division.

According to United States Attorney Yates, the indictment, and other information presented in court:  LaTonya Evans helped develop a scheme, with co-defendants Kendrick Watkins and Charles Jackson, to rob a postal truck driver.  During phones calls and face-to-face meetings, Evans provided Watkins and Jackson with non-public information that enabled them to commit the robbery.  On December 20, 2013, during a routine pick-up in Conley, Ga., Jackson and Watkins approached the postal truck they had targeted and demanded keys from the driver.  When the victim did not immediately comply, Jackson shot the victim through the torso, nearly taking his life.  The robbers bound the victim’s feet and took his cell phone so that he could not run or call for help.  Jackson and Watkins drove away with the stolen truck, and all its contents, and met with Evans later that same evening to discuss the robbery.  The victim struggled to reach the nearest road where he eventually flagged down a passerby for help, after waiting almost 45 minutes.

LaTonya Evans, 44, of Jackson, Ga., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash, Jr., to 15 years and eight months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.  Evans was convicted on September 9, 2014, after pleading guilty to conspiring to interfere with commerce by robbery. 

Co-defendants Kendrick Watkins, 39, of Rex, Ga., and Charles Jackson, 55, of Griffin, Ga., were convicted on August 13, 2014, and August 5, 2014, respectively, after both men pleaded guilty to armed postal robbery and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence.  Watkins and Jackson will be sentenced on January 7, 2015.  They both face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.    

This case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service.

Assistant United States Attorneys Mary Kruger, John Ghose and Angela Garland prosecuted this case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016.  The Internet address for the home page for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia Atlanta Division is http://www.justice.gov/usao/gan/.