NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

JOHN F. WOOD

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

JANUARY 14, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JURY CONVICTS KC MAN OF ARMED ROBBERY

OF A POST OFFICE

            KANSAS CITY, Mo. – John F. Wood, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., man was convicted by a federal jury today of the armed robbery of a post office in south Kansas City and the use of a firearm during a crime of violence.

             Robert E. Newsome, Jr., 35, of Kansas City, was found guilty of the charges contained in a Feb. 6, 2008, superseding indictment.

             Newsome, along with co-defendants Tony J. Lee, 19, of Shawnee, Kan., and Jesse Cardell Melton, 19, of Lenexa, Kan., robbed the Longview Post Office, 8800 Raytown Road, Kansas City, Mo., on May 12, 2007.

             Lee and Melton, armed with handguns, entered the post office at about 12:20 p.m. on May 12, 2007. Newsome, also armed, waited outside the post office in a getaway car. The facility was open for normal operation, with two postal workers at the front counter assisting two customers at the time of the robbery. A third customer was in the adjacent post office box section. Lee stayed in the lobby and contained the postal employees and customers with the use of his gun, while Melton jumped over the counter and removed $1,769 from three cash drawers.

             When a customer tried to sneak out of the post office, she was confronted by Newsome, who tried to get her keys. When she resisted, Newsome struck her on the back of the neck and knocked her to the ground. All three defendants got into a vehicle and sped away from the post office.

            Following the presentation of evidence, the jury in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City deliberated about two hours before returning the guilty verdict to U.S. District Judge Scott O. Wright, ending a trial that began Monday, Jan. 12, 2009.

             Lee was sentenced on July 25, 2008, to seven years and three months in federal prison without parole. On Jan. 3, 2008, Lee pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting others to assault postal employees with the intent to rob the post office at gunpoint.

             Melton pleaded guilty on Jan. 23, 2008, to his role in the robbery and awaits sentencing.

            Under federal statutes, Newsome is subject to a sentence of up to 25 years in federal prison without parole for the conviction of the armed robbery of a post office, plus a mandatory consecutive sentence of seven years in federal prison without parole for using a firearm during a crime of violence. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

            This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Roseann Ketchmark and Kathleen D. Mahoney. It was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.