Faces 25 Years Under ‘Jesse James’ Act : Man Convicted in Postal Holdups

A Van Nuys man was convicted Tuesday in U.S. District Court of armed robbery for holding up two Los Angeles post offices at gunpoint during last year’s holiday season.

Under a provision of federal law known as the “Jesse James” Act, Tyrone N. Morris, 21, faces a mandatory 25-year prison term and a fine of up to $250,000 for each robbery because he used a gun to rob a U. S. post office, U. S. Atty. Robert C. Bonner said.

The conviction followed a six-day jury trial and one day of jury deliberations.

Morris and another man robbed a Westchester post office on Dec. 19, 1984, and committed a second robbery at a Panorama City post office on Dec. 21, stealing a total of $7,800, Bonner said.

Photographs Taken by Hidden Camera

Morris was arrested by Los Angeles police in February. He was linked to the post office robberies through photographs taken by a surveillance camera during the Westchester robbery, Bonner said in a statement. The second man has not been apprehended.

On both occasions two men entered post office lobbies wearing ski masks and brandishing guns and ordered customers and employees to freeze, Bonner said.

They took money from the U. S. Postal Service cash drawers but did not rob any customers or postal employees, according to the statement.

Before committing the first robbery, Morris and his accomplice stopped outside the Westchester post office to give money to a Salvation Army Christmas collector, Bonner said. The men then walked inside, ordered the large, holiday crowd not to move and took $5,800 in cash from behind the counter.

Part of Gang

During the second robbery the two men took $2,800, Bonner said.

Morris was part of a small gang that committed at least seven armed robberies of U. S. post offices in the Los Angeles area in late 1984 and early 1985, Postal Inspector Mel Moore said. Three other men have been convicted of armed robbery, and one is awaiting trial, Moore said.

Morris is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 10 by U. S. District Court Judge William J. Rea.

Moore said the steep sentences mandated by the “Jesse James” Act were enacted by Congress in the 1880s to discourage robbers from waylaying trains that carried U. S. mail.