Three people who allegedly kidnapped a mail carrier they believed stole a package containing drugs have been indicted for kidnapping, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The alleged kidnappers are Mark Rogers, 36, Joseph Way, aka Gus, 34, and Tashara Levans, 35, all of Rochester, New York. The incident occurred in the City of Rochester on Saturday, November 16, 2019. Kidnapping carries a sentence of up to life in prison.
The details of the kidnapping
According to prosecutors, the ordeal started at around 10:30 a.m. when Rogers and Way accosted a female letter carrier as she was coming off a porch after delivering a package. Rogers accused the carrier of stealing a package and told her that she owed him $70,000. She denied taking it and they ordered her to take them to her mail truck which was parked nearby. Rogers ransacked the truck but did not find the missing package.
At that point, Rogers and Way forced the carrier into a white Infiniti SUV that was being driven by Levans, locked the doors, and took her keys, phone, and wallet.
The four of them drove to the post office where the carrier’s personal vehicle was parked. The men searched the carrier’s vehicle but did not find the missing package.
Rogers then drove the carrier’s vehicle towards her house while Levans followed him. They stopped short of her house because she told them she had surveillance cameras there.
Rogers told the carrier that her children were going to stay with them until he got his package back. He ordered her to call her son and tell him to come to the car. The carrier called her son and tried to convince him to come to the car but he seemed suspicious. The kidnappers became concerned that the boy might call the police, so they had the carrier call him back and tell him he didn’t need to come to the car.
Rogers and Way threatened the carrier while they drove around. They called someone and asked how much he would charge to kill her. One of the kidnappers face timed a co-conspirator, pointed the phone at the carrier’s face and said “this is the bitch that stole our package, we’re gonna kill her”.
At one point Rogers and Way got out of the vehicle to talk, and the carrier used her smart watch to send two text messages to a friend who was a police officer and to her supervisor.
Rogers and Way told the carrier to write down the names of her children’s schools and snapped a photo of her children from the wallpaper on her phone. Then they put her in her car and she drove away.
The kidnappers
According to prosecutors, Rogers and Way are drug dealers. Both men were on parole for weapons possession at the time of the incident. Rogers was also on parole for criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fourth degree.
Rogers was allegedly the ringleader of the kidnapping.
Levans was allegedly the driver. Levans is Rogers’ girlfriend, and they live together.
Defense counsel implicates the mail carrier in drug activity
Levans’ attorneys questioned the credibility of the mail carrier and suggested that she may be a co-conspirator. They pointed out that the carrier had delivered numerous packages to Way prior to the kidnapping.
According to prosecutors, the carrier initially refused to identify Levans in a photo array, but she is now cooperating.
All three defendants were arrested on February 6, 2020. Rogers and Way are both being held without bail. Levans is free on bail subject to home incarceration and electronic monitoring. All three defendants pled not guilty.