18-year-old pleads guilty in stolen USPS master key case
FORT WORTH — An 18-year-old from Fort Worth pleaded guilty Wednesday in connection to a stolen master mail key from a USPS mail carrier.
Willis Bender, according to plea papers, said he received and hid a stolen "Arrow Key."
Arrow Keys, "prized by mail thieves," are master keys used by the U.S. Postal Service to collect mail deposited in blue collection boxes.
The key Bender admitted to hiding was stolen from a letter carrier in Everman, Texas on Sept. 20, 2023. The carrier reported she was robbed at gunpoint by a black man who demanded she hand over her "mailbox key."
In interviews with law enforcement, Bender gave various accounts of his involvement in the robbery. Initially, he claimed he knew nothing about the incident. Next, he claimed a man showed up at his front door, threatened his family, and forced him to accompany him to the robbery.
In another interview, Bender claimed a man threatened him with a gun and forced him to sit in the back seat of his car during the robbery. In yet another interview, he said a man committed the robbery while he and another person waited in the vehicle.
In his final interview with law enforcement, Bender claimed that when police arrived in the area, he looked outside and saw the stolen Arrow Key sitting outside his door. Not wanting to get in trouble for robbery, he hid the key behind the air duct grill in his bedroom with his gun.
Bender faces up to 10 years in federal prison for receipt or concealment of stolen property of the United States.