21-year-old attacks postal worker on her lunch break, feds say. Now he’s sentenced

A 21-year-old attacked a postal worker sitting in her mail truck on her lunch break in Mississippi, federal officials said.

Now, he’s been sentenced to eight years in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Mississippi announced in a Feb. 22 news release.

The man’s public defenders declined to comment on the case to McClatchy News because they are likely to appeal.

On Feb. 11, 2023, a mail carrier with the United States Postal Service was sitting in the sidestep of her marked vehicle and eating her lunch when John Scott approached her, officials said in a criminal complaint.

He is accused of exposing himself to the postal worker and touching himself. The carrier reported he grabbed her “by the back of her head and pulled her toward him” to make her perform oral sex on him, officials said.

She resisted his efforts and called 911, but he took her phone out of her hand, saying it’s “mine now,” then fled the scene, officials said in the complaint.

Three days later, officers with the Clarksdale Police Department found the 21-year-old with the woman’s phone, and he was wearing the same jacket and toboggan hat the woman described from the incident, officials said.

He told authorities he had “sexual thoughts” at the time, which stopped when the woman said she was calling 911, according to the complaint.

He was arrested and charged with assaulting an officer or employee of the United States while they are performing their official duties.

Scott pleaded guilty in October and has now been sentenced to the maximum sentence of eight years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

A judge recommended that Scott, who is now 22, be evaluated for “sexual dangerousness,” according to the release.

“The safety and security of Postal Service employees is core to the mission of the Postal Inspection Service,” Inspector-in-Charge Scott Fix said in the release. “While assaults against our employees are rare, when they do occur, we will aggressively investigate to find those responsible and bring them to justice.”

Clarksdale is in Coahoma County, about 150 miles northwest of Jackson.

This story was originally published February 23, 2024 at 2:50 PM with the headline "21-year-old attacks postal worker on her lunch break, feds say. Now he’s sentenced."