3 Mississippi men get prison time for robbing postal worker

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Three Mississippi men each have been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for the 2018 armed robbery of a U.S. Postal Service worker.

Jamarr Smith, 38, Gilbert McThunel II, 37, and Thomas Iroko Ayodele, 40, all of Batesville, were sentenced Tuesday during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock. Smith and McThunel each received 10 years and eight months in prison, while Ayodele was sentenced to 11 years and three months, authorities said.

Each of them will serve five years of supervision once released and they were ordered to pay restitution to the U.S. Postal Service for the money taken in the robbery and to the postal carrier for medical costs associated with injuries he received, federal prosecutors said.

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Three Mississippi men have been sentenced to prison time for robbing a postal worker. 

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The carrier was robbed as he picked up mail from the Lake Cormorant Post Office for delivery to the distribution center in Memphis, the U.S. attorney's office said in a news release. Evidence showed when the carrier arrived on Feb. 5, 2018, McThunel approached the carrier, struck him multiple times in the face with a firearm, threatened to kill him, and then stole bags containing money from the carrier's truck.

Ayodele dropped McThunel off at the post office prior to the robbery and picked him up afterward, while Smith acted as a lookout from a separate vehicle.

"Combatting violent crime and protection of our citizens is one of the highest priorities for the U.S. attorney's office in the Northern District of Mississippi," U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner said. "We hope that today's sentence will serve as a message to all who would target or victimize their fellow citizens in the hopes of easy personal gain. Such acts will not be tolerated and we will do all we can to see that violent criminals and those who assist them are incarcerated for their crimes."