A former United States Postal Service employee pleaded guilty today to federal criminal charges for participating in one burglary and two armed robberies of USPS trucks carrying cash – incidents that caused nearly a quarter million dollars in losses. William Crosby IV, 32, of Inglewood, pleaded guilty to two felonies: robbery of United States property and using a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime. United States District Judge S. James Otero scheduled an October 28 sentencing hearing, at which time Crosby will face a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison along with a mandatory consecutive sentence of seven years’ imprisonment.
Crosby admitted in his plea agreement that between August 2017 and March 2018, while a USPS employee, he conspired with others to plan a theft and two robberies of USPS trucks carrying cash. The burglary and armed robberies caused cash losses of $238,457, Crosby admitted in his plea agreement.
As a former supervisor, Crosby knew when the USPS transported cash generated from the sale of money orders and USPS merchandise – information that is not known to all Postal Service employees, according to a federal grand jury indictment.
On August 1, 2017, Crosby signaled to his co-conspirators that a Postal Service truck carrying a large amount of cash was on the loading dock at the Dockweiler Post Office in South Los Angeles. A co-conspirator wearing a Postal Service shirt walked onto the loading dock and stole a container inside the truck that contained $128,236 in cash.
On February 1, 2018, Crosby, then assigned to the Wagner Post Office in Los Angeles near the city boundary with Inglewood, provided information to co-conspirators that a USPS truck carrying cash was leaving the facility. During the robbery, in which Crosby acted as a lookout, a minivan blocked the USPS truck just outside the Wagner Post Office, the robber threatened the truck driver at gunpoint, and the robber stole $37,658 in cash.
On March 1, 2018, Crosby took sick leave without pay from his job at the Wagner Post Office. On that date, however, he again conspired to rob a post office, this time the Dockweiler Post Office, where he previously worked. Less than one hour before the robbery, Crosby parked at a grocery store parking lot across the street from the Dockweiler Post Office in a spot where he could see the post office’s loading dock area.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 1, 2019. Read the original PDF.