U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Wednesday sentenced a man who threatened a mail carrier when he hadn’t received a package containing marijuana to 10 years in prison.
Marquis Melton, 31, pleaded guilty in January to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Melton admitted that on February 27, 2023, he confronted a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier in the 4700 block of Farlin Avenue in St. Louis, Missouri, demanding a package that he expected. After being told by the carrier that he did not have that package, Melton followed the carrier back to the post office and again tried to locate the package.
The next day, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers stopped the vehicle Melton was riding in the day before. They found a .40-caliber pistol. Melton is a convicted felon and is barred from possessing a firearm. He was also wanted by police on other matters.
Melton denied threatening the carrier with a firearm and claimed there was no evidence that the gun he purportedly had while interacting with the carrier was the same one police found a day later.
However, based on testimony and evidence presented during a sentencing hearing Wednesday, Judge Ross found that Melton did have the gun and did threaten the mail carrier. Melton was impatient about the shipment of marijuana that he was expecting, evidence and testimony showed.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda Lane prosecuted the case.
