Two 22-year-old Virginia Beach men got 10 years and five years and three months in federal prison. They robbed a Postal Service carrier at gunpoint in Richmond in July 2023.

Two Virginia Beach men have been sentenced to federal prison for robbing a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier at gunpoint in Richmond, about 95 miles northwest.

Demarih Lockhart, 22, was sentenced Nov. 5 to 10 years. Deangelo Raquan Martin Harris, 22, was sentenced Monday to five years and three months. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced the sentences on Nov. 9. U.S. District Judge Roderick C. Young sentenced both men in Richmond.

What happened

According to court documents cited by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the two men drove to Limerick Drive in Richmond on July 7, 2023. Their aim was to take a carrier’s key that opens Postal Service collection boxes.

Prosecutors said:

  • Lockhart, wearing a ski mask, approached the carrier as she returned to her truck and pointed a handgun at her.
  • She handed over her key and her mail scanner.
  • Lockhart ran off, threw away the scanner and got back into the car, where Harris was waiting.
  • The car had been stolen in Fort Worth, Texas. The two men had borrowed it from a New York man.
  • While they were still driving away, Lockhart used Harris’s cellphone to photograph the stolen key and sent the picture to a man in Frederick, Maryland.

Prosecutors said the New York and Maryland men paid Lockhart and Harris for the robbery. The office did not say how much. The carrier was not named.

The pleas and sentences

The U.S. Attorney’s Office release gives the outcome for each man:

Defendant Pleaded guilty Charges Sentence
Demarih Lockhart, 22, Virginia Beach July 7, 2026 Interfering with commerce by threats or violence; brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence 10 years (Nov. 5)
Deangelo Raquan Martin Harris, 22, Virginia Beach June 24, 2026 Interfering with commerce by threats or violence Five years and three months (Nov. 9)

The two men who paid for the robbery were convicted in a separate case. Ricky Damion Christopher Jones Jr., of New York, pleaded guilty in September 2024 to use of a firearm during a crime of violence, conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit bank fraud. He was sentenced March 26, 2025, to 19 years. Chanz Lamarion Pough, of Frederick, Maryland, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and was sentenced Feb. 13, 2025, to two years and six months.

Who brought the case

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Washington Division investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick J. McGorman prosecuted the case. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Theophani K. Stamos and Inspector in Charge Damon E. Wood announced the sentences.

The case was brought under Project Safe Neighborhoods, the Justice Department’s program against violent crime.

What it means for you

Both Virginia Beach cases are now closed at sentencing. The court records are public on PACER under case numbers 3:26-cr-73 (Lockhart) and 3:26-cr-60 (Harris) in the Eastern District of Virginia.

The robbery targeted a key that opens blue collection boxes. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service takes reports of mail theft and of assaults on carriers.

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