COLUMBUS, Ohio — In U.S. District Court today, two Central Ohio men, 20-year-old Theirno S. Bah of Columbus and co-defendant 20-year-old Cameron D. Newton of Westerville, pleaded guilty to four armed robberies of Postal carriers. Bah, also known as “Wopo” and “Wopoonese,” was arrested in August 2023 and faces a recommended sentence of 20 to 25 years, while Newton faces a minimum of 20 years up to life in prison.
The guilty pleas mark the latest in a series of cases related to Postal robberies in the Southern District of Ohio, with at least a dozen defendants charged in 2022 and 2023. Notably, Brandon J. Campbell was sentenced to 78 months in prison in Columbus in August 2022, and Mahad S. Jama, Da’Mon D. May, and Cody N. Beasley were convicted for an April 2023 armed Postal robbery in Dublin.
According to Bah’s plea agreement, he used firearms to rob Postal carriers of their U.S. Postal Service keys between December 2022 and May 2023. Newton aided and abetted these aggravated robberies involving the use of firearms.
Bah and Newton collaborated with others to steal service keys, employing a technique known as “fishing” to steal mail from USPS receptacles. The stolen items were then altered, and third parties were recruited to deposit the washed checks in their accounts, sharing the profits.
The alleged thefts occurred in Central Ohio on:
- Dec. 29, 2022
- Jan. 3, 2023 (two separate robberies on this date)
- May 11, 2023
Bah admitted to using a handgun in the December 29, 2022, robbery in German Village, where Newton, on probation and wearing a GPS ankle monitor, enlisted juveniles to assist. Newton also facilitated surveillance during a January 3, 2023, robbery on East Columbus Street, providing cover as a DoorDash delivery driver.
In another armed robbery in Whitehall later that day, Bah took personal car keys and USPS service keys, with Newton again providing surveillance. On May 11, 2023, at the Post Office Retail Store on West Broad Street, Bah pistol-whipped a victim, accompanied her into the post office, and Newton supplied another firearm for the crime.
On May 18, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Newton’s residence, revealing $22,000, washed checks, Postal keys, and stolen mail. Congress establishes statutory sentences, and the Court will determine sentencing based on advisory guidelines and other statutory factors in future hearings.
