The afternoon of Sept. 17, 2021, Tarek Keionte Sonnier and Monte Drayton ambushed a letter carrier as he walked his delivery route in the heart of Houston, Texas. The men pepper-sprayed the 78-year-old man and stole a master key from his belt loop that unlocked mailboxes at a nearby post office before speeding off in a silver Chevy Camaro.
According to federal authorities, it was part of a robbing spree that spilled across state lines and involved the two men jacking a female mail carrier聽in 香港六和开奖历史记录聽on Oct. 6, 2021. Court records in the case show Sonnier and Drayton went on a brazen rash of thievery, pilfering boxloads of mail, checks, money orders and credit cards from mailboxes in the two cities. Authorities in 香港六和开奖历史记录 and Houston arrested the men twice before U.S. Postal Inspectors finally nabbed them in the act of breaking into a mailbox in November 2021.
Earlier this week, a federal judge characterized Sonnier as a 鈥渂ully鈥 who preyed on postal workers before sentencing him to 7陆 years in prison for his role in robbing the 香港六和开奖历史记录 letter carrier. Last August, Sonnier pleaded guilty to robbery of personal property of the United States in connection with the attack in 香港六和开奖历史记录.
Several of Sonnier鈥檚 family members sat inside the U.S. Middle District Courthouse in 香港六和开奖历史记录 and watched as U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson imposed the sentence Monday.
Jackson pointed to the fact that Sonnier鈥檚 loved ones showed up for many of his court dates leading up to the hearing and said he was the product of a supportive and successful family. The judge also noted that Sonnier, 26, spent a year in college before spiraling into a life of crime.
鈥淚 have no idea what compelled you to drop out of college and start robbing postal workers,鈥 Jackson said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e probably the most vulnerable of all federal employees. They鈥檙e not armed. They鈥檙e out there every day just trying to do their jobs.鈥
Stolen mail spills out of a Chevy Camaro when authorities arrest Tarek Sonnier and his accomplice Monte Drayton at a Houston post office on Nov. 23, 2021.
The Houston robbery
Sonnier and Drayton鈥檚 crimes didn鈥檛 hit law enforcement鈥檚 radar until Sept. 30, 2021. The Houston Police Department was investigating an alarming trend of 鈥渂ank jugging,鈥 where thieves stalk and rob victims after they have withdrawn money from the bank, ATM or a check-cashing store. Officers monitoring a Navy Federal Credit Union noticed two men circling the bank and pulled them over in their Chevy Camaro. Cops seized 63 stolen paper checks and debit cards belonging to several victims and arrested Sonnier and Drayton.
Both got out of jail within days. Unbeknownst to officers at the time, the men had robbed a postal worker about two weeks before on the east side of Houston. William Russell, the 78-year-old victim, was hospitalized after two masked robbers jumped him as he was delivering mail, he told investigators. One of the men pepper sprayed Russell and the other snatched several U.S. Postal Service keys from his belt loop, and the men took off in a silver Camaro.
香港六和开奖历史记录 and back
Six days later, the 香港六和开奖历史记录 victim was walking through Spanish Town making her midafternoon mail deliveries when the two men sprung their attack. The 33-year-old Denham Springs woman didn鈥檛 notice Sonnier hiding behind a tree on the backside of her mail truck in the 600 block of North 8th Street while Drayton laid in wait, according to federal court records.
Surveillance footage showed Sonnier, dressed in striped sweatpants, emerge from behind the tree moments after the victim walked past. He had a black ski mask covering the bottom of his face, but a red letter he was carrying in his hand disarmed the postal carrier. She asked if he had some mail he needed to give her, and he indicated he did as he approached. But when Sonnier got closer to the woman, he pulled out what she thought was a black handgun, according to federal prosecutors, and sprayed the woman鈥檚 eyes with what proved to be a can of Mace. As the woman writhed in pain, they snatched the keys to her mail truck as well as her postmaster 鈥渁rrow keys鈥 that could be used to open every blue mailbox at the Perkins Road, Millwood Drive and Florida Street post offices, authorities said. Drayton and Sonnier then ran to their Camaro parked nearby and sped away.
Investigators would later trace an ensuing rash of local mail thefts over the following months back to the incident.
Tarek Sonnier and Monte Drayton captured on surveillance cameras stealing items from a mailbox at a Houston post office and dumping them into their car in November 2021.
香港六和开奖历史记录 police pulled over the two men on Lobdell Avenue the day after the robbery and arrested them after finding a shoe box filled with suspicious mail in the Camaro. Officers later searched the car and recovered stolen checks, money orders, blank check stock, receipts for wire transactions and ATM deposits, and at least 23 debit and credit cards with other people鈥檚 names on them. Police also found bottles of Heet and Wite-Out, chemicals often used by fraudsters to doctor checks. It is a scamming technique that authorities call 鈥渃heck washing.鈥
香港六和开奖历史记录 postal inspectors also installed a GPS tracker on the Camaro to monitor its whereabouts. The tracker proved useful when Sonnier was released on bail the following day. It showed that the Camaro departed 香港六和开奖历史记录 Oct. 20, 2021, and arrived back in Houston the next day. Police there began seeing numerous complaints of lost and stolen mail. That prompted the USPS Mail Theft team to install surveillance cameras at the Houston River Oaks Post Office to monitor a mailbox outside, which was tied to the key Sonnier and Drayton stole from Russell two months earlier.
The cameras captured Sonnier and Drayton as they pulled up to the mailbox shortly after 1 the next morning, unlocked it and dumped all of the items into the Camaro. They repeated the same pattern three of the next five nights until postal inspectors and Houston police caught them in the act on Nov. 23.
Postal inspectors seized piles of stolen mail and found four USPS master keys, including the mailbox key the duo stole from Russell during the September 2021 robbery. Drayton and Sonnier pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from the Houston robbery and were sentenced to 30 months and two years in prison, respectively, in June 2022, federal court records show.
U.S. Bureau of Prison records indicate Drayton, 37, was released from federal custody March 29. It is not clear if he is serving time somewhere else. He was not listed as a state prisoner in either Louisiana or Texas, according to the respective Department of Corrections websites.
During his sentencing this week in 香港六和开奖历史记录, Sonnier expressed remorse and took full accountability for his actions. He asked the judge for a 鈥渟econd chance at fatherhood and life鈥 so he could be with his 4-year-old daughter.
鈥淚 truly wish I could take back what I鈥檝e done,鈥 Sonnier said.
Defense attorney Franz Borghardt said Sonnier was on a path of destruction in the midst of a chaotic period in his life, but told the judge Sonnier has undergone a 鈥渇ull mental rehabilitation鈥 since then.
鈥淭his is not the end of his story,鈥 Borghardt said. 鈥淗e will one day be free again. 鈥 And what kind of man he is when he walks out of prison is entirely up to Mr. Sonnier.鈥
Keys stolen from a Houston, Texas mail carrier during a Sept. 17, 2021 robbery.
