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A Chicago man who robbed a U.S. Postal Service letter service at gunpoint whereas already going through state fees for stealing mail within the West Loop has been sentenced to only over seven years in federal jail.
On Friday, U.S. District Choose Andrea Wooden sentenced 54-year-old Richard Thompson to 86 months in jail — a little bit greater than seven years — after accepting his responsible plea to robbing a mail service of her postal “arrow key” on November 10, 2023.
In keeping with prosecutors, Thompson and an confederate focused the service as she made deliveries within the 900 block of North Francisco Avenue. Thompson crossed the road, climbed into her USPS automobile, brandished a gun, and demanded the common keys that postal employees use to entry mailboxes and constructing entries throughout the town.
The service complied, however the theft left lasting harm. In a sufferer influence assertion, she described despair, anxiousness, and monetary pressure after being compelled to take go away from work. She informed the court docket she has endured nightmares, fixed concern, and a diminished sense of safety that continues to have an effect on her day by day life.
Thompson was already beneath scrutiny months earlier. Postal inspectors stated that round 3 a.m. on Could 2, 2023, they watched him use a stolen arrow key to open a blue assortment field at Racine and Adams Streets. He was arrested and charged in state court docket with theft and possessing housebreaking instruments, then launched on digital monitoring.
However six months later, Cook dinner County Choose Steven Watkins eliminated the ankle monitor and Thompson allegedly took benefit of the chance to rob the mail service.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service provided a $150,000 reward for suggestions concerning the armed robber. Earlier this 12 months, inspectors introduced that the federal government had permitted a reward fee to a tipster who helped investigators join the crime to Thompson.
In court docket filings, prosecutors and Thompson’s protection legal professional provided starkly completely different concepts about what his punishment must be.
The U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace pushed for a sentence of 115 months, citing Thompson’s three a long time of felony convictions and arguing he posed a severe threat to public security. Protection attorneys sought as little as 84 months, pointing to his traumatic upbringing, lengthy historical past of substance abuse, and harsh pretrial confinement circumstances on the Kankakee jail, the place inmates haven’t any outside recreation or in-person visitation.
Ultimately, Choose Wooden landed nearer to the protection’s advice, sentencing Thompson to 86 months in jail. He will even serve three years of supervised launch.
Thompson’s state fees for the West Loop housebreaking allegations are nonetheless pending.
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