TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A pair who used a Postal Service key to raid apartment complex mailboxes in Tallahassee, Fla., will serve time in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Florida’s northern district said in announcing the sentences on Wednesday.
Christy Holgate, 49, received a sentence of more than three and a half years. Kim Benson, 53, was ordered to serve two years. Each had admitted guilt to a federal mail theft conspiracy charge plus multiple individual theft counts.
Court records place the thefts between August and December 2025. Over those five months, the pair opened mailboxes at a number of apartment complexes with a USPS mail key and took hundreds of pieces of mail, prosecutors said. Surveillance video captured the break-ins.
Federal postal inspectors worked the investigation jointly with the Tallahassee Police Department. When officers arrested the two in December 2025, their vehicle held bags of stolen mail, stolen debit and credit cards and the mail key.
Prosecutors said Holgate confessed that the stolen mail was sold to another person and the money went to buy illegal drugs.
U.S. Attorney John P. Heekin announced the sentences and said his office will keep pursuing anyone who steals or tampers with mail so residents can trust their deliveries. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric K. Mountin handled the prosecution.
The case is a reminder for apartment residents that shared cluster mailboxes can be opened with a single master key. Anyone who notices missing letters, cards that never arrive or signs of tampering can report it to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the federal agency that polices crimes involving the mail.
Section: More Tallahassee FL crime news
Filed under: Tallahassee FL Crime News
