Aaron Nelson and Chrisnell Maitre, of Deer Park, charged with robbing mail carriers

Two teenagers face multiple charges after police said they attempted to steal keys from United States Postal Service mail carriers on multiple occasions since October.

Aaron Nelson and Chrisnell Maitre, both 19 and of Deer Park, were each charged with three counts of third-degree attempted robbery, Suffolk County police said.

The pair allegedly tried to rob postal keys, which are used to access postal service mailboxes, in several instances, including at Burlington Boulevard and Vernon Place in Smithtown on Jan. 29 and on Hallock Avenue in Smithtown on Feb. 14.

After an investigation, Maitre was arrested on Feb. 29, and Nelson was arrested Thursday evening, police said.

Nelson was also charged with third-degree robbery for robbing a mail carrier in his truck Oct. 13 of a key that can open all the mailboxes in the North Babylon area, police said. The mail carrier had handed over the key and Nelson fled, police said.

Nelson was being held overnight at the Third Precinct for arraignment. No online information about his arraignment was available Friday. An investigation is ongoing, police said.

The U.S. Postal Service launched Project Safe Delivery last year, pledging it would be “doubling down” on efforts to combat growing rates of letter carrier robberies.

The crackdown led to hundreds of arrests, and robberies slowed toward the end of the year. But, overall, the number of postal carriers who were robbed in 2023 rose again and the number who were injured nearly doubled as criminals continue to target carriers for their antiquated “arrow keys” that allow access to mailboxes.

In March, legislation was introduced in Congress to accelerate the replacement of tens of thousands of mailbox keys, boost prosecutions and review sentencing guidelines.

With The Associated Press