Columbus man guilty of armed robbery of postal workers imprisoned

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A man who pleaded guilty to robbing a U.S. Postal Service employee at gunpoint near Downtown is heading to prison.

According to the Unites States Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Ohio, a district court judge sentenced 20-year-old Anthony “A.J.” Williams to seven years in prison after he pleaded guilty to crimes related to armed robberies of a poster carrier.

Court records show that Williams committed armed robbery of a carrier on Nov. 9, 2022, on Michigan Avenue, north of Downtown. Williams then threatened the mail carrier with a borrowed pistol and demanded his postal keys.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office release said Williams then took the keys off the carrier's belt and sent photos of them to a co-conspirator.

Williams, who was arrested in Pittsburgh in January, worked with that same co-conspirator to plan a postal robbery on Dec. 24, 2022, when he punched a mail carrier in the face and threatened to kill him if he did not surrender his postal keys.

Additional accusations include using keys to rob a series of locked mail receptacles, which he did with several co-conspirators, and altering stolen checks and using third parties to deposit them into personal accounts.

After Williams pleaded guilty to brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, committing aggravated robbery of U.S. property and conspiring to commit an offense against the United States, a federal judge upheld a sentencing recommendation of seven years.