Crime News
Fort Worth man pleads guilty to hiding thief favorite 'mailbox key'
USPS blue mailboxes
A Fort Worth man pleaded guilty to concealing a mailbox key used to postal workers to collect mail from streetside mailboxes.
According to a release from U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton, Willis Bender, 18, was charged via criminal complaint in October 2023 and pleaded guilty on April 3 to receipt or concealment of stolen property of the United States.
Bender admitted he had received a stolen “Arrow Key,” a master key used by the U.S. Postal Service to gather mail deposited in blue collection boxes.
The key – prized by mail thieves – was stolen from a letter carrier in Everman on September 20. The carrier reported that she was robbed at gunpoint by a black man who demanded she hand over her mailbox key.
Bender told a variety of stories about his involvement in the robbery:
- At first, he said he knew nothing about the incident.
- Then he claimed a man named showed up at his front door, threatened his family, and forced him to go along on the robbery.
- In a subsequent interview, he claimed a man threatened him with a gun and forced him to sit in the back seat of his car during the robbery.
- In another interview, he said a man committed the robbery while he and another individual waited outside in the vehicle.
- In his final interview with law enforcement, Bender claimed that when police arrived in the area, he looked outside and saw the stolen arrow key sitting outside his door. Not wanting to get in trouble for robbery, he took the key and hid it behind the air duct grill in his bedroom alongside his gun.
Bender faces up to 10 years in federal prison.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Everman Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Levi Thomas is prosecuting the case.
