Mother Lakita Carroll and son Marshun Lewis have been sentenced to 49 years in prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud and committing a series of armed robberies of United States postal carriers

On the penultimate Friday, United States district judge Thomas Parker sentenced Ms Carroll, 46, to three and a half years in prison for her role in a conspiracy to commit bank fraud. On April 15, the judge sentenced her son, Mr Lewis, 25, to 42 years in prison for committing a series of armed robberies of U.S. postal carriers in August 2023 and October, November, and December of 2024 in the Western District of Tennessee.

United States attorney D. Michael Dunavant announced the sentences on Thursday.  

According to information presented in court, Mr Lewis conducted a series of armed robberies of U.S. postal carriers as a masked gunman for the purpose of obtaining keys to unlock blue collection mailboxes throughout the city of Memphis.

He used the keys to steal checks and money orders from the mail for use in committing bank fraud. He then altered the payee information on the checks and money orders for deposit into third party accounts for withdrawal. Investigators located his vehicle on surveillance video at the scene of the robberies.

Postal inspectors served a search warrant at his home and located stolen mail and the keychain for one of the stolen keys. Text messages located on his phone linked him to each of the robberies and several co-conspirators in the bank fraud scheme. The inspectors determined the total amount of stolen checks and money orders exceeded $940,000.

Ms Carroll assisted her son by depositing stolen checks and money orders in her bank account. She pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of bank fraud.

After a four-day trial, Mr Lewis was convicted as charged of four counts of robbery, four counts of brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, one count of bank fraud, and one count of possession of stolen mail. There is no parole in the federal system.

“In order to break the cycle of violent crime in Memphis, we must break the generational lifestyles of lawlessness. This mother’s greed led to her son’s extreme violence, and their brazen selfishness has landed them both in federal prison,” Mr Dunavant said. “Their family business driven by a culture of criminality is over.”