Mugshot of Marcus Bennett
According to court documents, the mail carrier told investigators that Marcus Bennett, who lives along his route, had approached him for help delivering drug packages. The mail carrier said Marcus Bennett asked him two weeks before the shooting about a package that he was missing, according to the affidavit. He said Marcus Bennett blamed him for the missing package.
Investigators said they found Marcus Bennett’s phone number saved under his alias, MIZ, on the mail carrier’s phone.
According to the affidavit, the day after the shooting, postal inspectors received a tip that a person named “MIZ” from Victory Park, later identified as Marcus Bennett, was supposed to receive a package containing drugs via U.S. Mail approximately two weeks earlier, but the mail carrier, Da’Ron Lester, kept the package, and that’s why he was shot.
In an interview with postal inspectors after being released from a hospital, Lester said Marcus Bennett confronted him about the missing package, and Lester told him he knew nothing about it. Lester said the conversation ended with Bennett telling him to “stay safe.”
Lester has a history of drug charges including a felony conviction for possession of cocaine in 2007, among other drug related misdemeanors.
According to the Postal Service’s website, they do conduct criminal background checks, researching the counties in which a potential employee lived during a 5 year stretch. Having a prior conviction alone doesn’t exclude you from getting the job, they state. It’s on an individual basis and on the nature of the conviction.
The U.S. Attorney told us Lester has not been charged. The US Postal Service could not tell us Monday afternoon if Lester still had a job. Read more
note: According to USPS records Da’Ron Lester was hired in 2014 as a career city carrier
Press Release from the US Attorney’s office in Kentucky
Louisville man charged in shooting of allegedly drug-delivering letter carrier
2/22/16 Louisville, Ky. – A Louisville man appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dave Whalin today, charged by Criminal Complaint with the assault of a United States Postal Carrier (while engaged in the performance of his official duties) and with the discharge of a firearm during the commission of a violent offense, announced United States Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr.
Marcus Bennett, a/k/a MIZ, was arrested Saturday, February 20, 2016, and charged in a criminal complaint, that was unsealed today in federal court. The charges are in connection with the shooting of United States Postal Carrier Da’Ron Lester on February 10, 2016. According to an Affidavit by the United States Postal Inspection Service, in support of the complaint, Bennett was seated in the passenger seat of a 2009 Pontiac G8, when his brother, Eric Bennett, allegedly opened fire on Lester. Eric Bennett, 37, was arrested February 16, 2016, by Louisville Metro Police and charged in Jefferson County Circuit Court with attempted murder and first-degree assault. Marcus Bennett lives at a residence on South 38th Street in Louisville, which is in Lester’s postal delivery area. Lester was performing his official duties as a United States Postal Service (USPS) employee when he was shot multiple times on Dearborn Avenue in Louisville. At the time of the shooting, Lester indicated that he knew the person who shot him and subsequently stated to inspectors that he was shot by Eric Bennett. A search of Lester’s cell phone found a listing for MIZ (Marcus Bennett) in his contacts.
Marcus Bennett remains in federal custody with a bond hearing scheduled for Wednesday, February 24, 2016 before Magistrate Judge Whalin. Bennett faces a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years to life in prison for the charge of discharging a firearm during the commission of a violent offense and faces up to 20 years in prison for the assault of a federal employee while engaged in the performance of his official duties.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Scott Davis and Marisa Ford, and the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) is conducting the investigation.
The charge of a person by Criminal Complaint is an accusation only and that person is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
A large amount of drugs moves thru the PO and now the PO hires convicted drug offenders to deliver the drugs!?! I’m calling human resources for my retirement papers…..