Indy man sentenced to six years for carjacking of postal truck

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INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis man will serve over six years in prison for the armed carjacking of a U.S. Postal Truck in 2022.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Robert Powell, 23, of Indianapolis, has been sentenced to 79 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to the robbery of mail.

According to court documents, the incident occurred on the morning of June 15, 2022, when a United States Postal Service worker was delivering mail at an apartment complex in Avon. At approximately 10:15 a.m., Powell approached the postal worker, wearing a mask and displaying a firearm. He forcibly ordered the victim to exit the vehicle while leaving her belongings behind.

Powell then stole the postal truck and drove at a high rate of speed for about a mile before pulling over to meet another individual waiting in a Mazda 6 sedan. Noticing the swift passage of the postal truck, another letter carrier in the area suspected something was wrong and followed the stolen vehicle. The witness observed Powell and the accomplice transferring mail and packages from the postal truck into the Mazda. The witness called 911 as the two fled the scene, leaving the postal truck.

During an investigation, U.S. Postal Inspectors located Powell’s Facebook account. On this account, Powell regularly solicited bank account information from other users, in furtherance of a type of fraud called card cracking, even going as far as attempting to recruit a USPS mail carrier into his scheme.

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