A California man was sentenced Friday in V.I. District Court to eight months in prison, followed by 30 months of supervised release, for threatening to kill employees of the United States Postal Service, acting U.S. Attorney Adam F. Sleeper announced.
Simon Peters, 42, pleaded guilty to one count of making threats against public officials on Feb. 18.
“Threatening postal employees and other public officials will not be tolerated,” said Sleeper in a press release announcing the sentence imposed by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Robert A. Molloy. “Postal workers work tirelessly to serve our community and carry out their duties. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to hold accountable those who threaten violence against our dedicated public servants,” he said.
“The U.S. Postal Inspection Service takes threats of violence to postal employees very seriously.” said Acting Inspector in Charge Bladismir Rojo of the USPIS Miami Division. “I’d like to thank the FBI, DEA, HSI, USMS, CBP and VIPD who provided assistance and resources to aid us during this investigation.”
According to court records, Peters called the Ottley Post Office on St. Thomas on Jan. 27, 2024, and threatened to kill the carrier that services the Kirwan Terrace Housing Community for not delivering his packages, which contained marijuana. The threats included: “Make sure the fat boy know, we’re watching him and next time we’re going to kill him behind the building”; “We are definitely going to make a frigging example out here”; and “Any more packages from California go missing, you will see what happen to the co-workers dem … one by one.”
On Jan. 29, 2024, Peters again called the Ottley Post Office and continued his threats, according to court records. Peters stated he wanted to speak to the delivery driver for Kirwan Terrace. When asked why he wanted to speak with the driver, Peters stated, “To let the people know what’s going on in the Virgin Islands. We got people driving around looking for him, and you gon hear him get gun shots in his [expletive] ass.” He also stated, “I’ve been doing this for over 10 years now. I’m in California dealing with the Virgin Islands.”
As a result of the threats, the USPS management did not send any letter carriers to the Kirwan Terrace Housing Community for two days to ensure their safety, according to Monday’s press release. This temporarily disrupted mail delivery to that community. The USPS also brought in agents from other jurisdictions to escort letter carriers to deliver the mail. Additionally, the USPS employed a private security company to provide additional security at the post offices, it said.
The USPS tracked the phone calls to California where Peters was located. Peters was arrested and brought to the Virgin Islands for prosecution, the release stated.
The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with assistance from the FBI, DEA, HSI, USMS, CBP and VIPD. Assistant U.S. Attorney Natasha L. Baker prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of the Virgin Islands.
