OAKLAND — A city resident was sentenced this month to six years and five months in federal prison for robbing an Oakland mail carrier in 2021, court records show.
Javon Zachary, 34, was sentenced May 9 by U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam, after pleading guilty to gun charges and robbery, court records show. He was immediately remanded to the Bureau of Prisons service, and must be on supervised release for three years after his prison term is over.
Zachary was originally charged with two robberies, but prosecutors dropped charges as part of a plea agreement. In court filings, prosecutors quoted Zachary’s alleged explanation for robbing a postman, saying that Zachary told authorities he wanted to take the victim’s satchel, “Because if you dress up as a mailman, it keeps the investigators out because nobody knows what you really are.”
“It is particularly alarming that the defendant intended to impersonate a postal worker to carry out additional crimes following the armed robbery,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Kleiman said in court records, adding that Zachary’s crime occurred just 15 months after his release from federal prison for a gun conviction.
When Zachary was charged in December 2021, prosecutors alleged that after he robbed a mail carrier, he ran away, but came across a motorist in need of assistance. The criminal complaint says Zachary helped the motorist fix his car, then pulled out his pistol and carjacked the man, only to have the car break a short distance away. He then allegedly pushed the vehicle to nearby gas station with the victim running after him.
Zachary’s lawyer wrote in court papers that the gun was unloaded and that Zachary’s crime occurred after his brother was shot and killed in Oakland in July 2021, causing Zachary’s life to spiral out of control. He wrote that Zachary suffers from PTSD, had an incredibly abusive childhood, and began using methamphetamine “in a misguided attempt to identify with his lost brother,” who also struggled with drug addiction.
“After his June 2020 release from federal custody, he spent all his waking hours as a caregiver for his severely disabled partner, also caring for their young child and her two children,” Assistant Federal Public Defender Angela Milella Hansen wrote in a sentencing memo. “He ignored his own needs and failed to utilize the resources available to obtain treatment for his drug addiction and past trauma.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com