A Gardena man was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison for body-slamming a mail carrier last year.
John Leomen Ross, 40, pleaded guilty in November to one count of assault on a federal employee resulting in bodily injury in connection with the Feb. 21, 2024, attack, the United States Department of Justice said in a news release.
The mail carrier, identified as Bruce Jennings, was delivering mail at a home near Hoover and 172nd streets when Ross began yelling at him, video from the scene shows.
“According to the victim, Ross yelled at him and was upset he didn’t get a package he felt he was supposed to have already received,” the DOJ said.
Jennings appeared to walk away before Ross hit him “on the back of the head, hit him in the eye, and then body slammed the USPS employee to the ground,” the release added.
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Video captured mail carrier Bruce Jennings being brutually assaulted in an unprovoked attack on Feb. 21, 2024. (Christine Cojulun) -
Video captured mail carrier Bruce Jennings being brutually assaulted in an unprovoked attack on Feb. 21, 2024. (Christine Cojulun) -
Video captured mail carrier Bruce Jennings being brutually assaulted in an unprovoked attack on Feb. 21, 2024. (Christine Cojulun) -
Video captured mail carrier Bruce Jennings being brutually assaulted in an unprovoked attack on Feb. 21, 2024. (Christine Cojulun)
Last year, neighbors told KTLA that Ross had long been a problem in the area.
“Our problem was that Bruce, who’s the nicest guy in the world, got sucker-punched,” said Carol Nishijima, a neighbor. “[Ross] floored him and started whaling on him. We’ve been trying to get John Ross out of the neighborhood for quite a while now. He grew up here and he’s been breaking and entering into people’s homes since he was a youngster.”
Officials like acting U.S. Attorney Joseph McNally said in the release that postal workers need to be protected from violence like this.
“The defendant here violently attacked a postal employee who was hard at work doing his job,” said acting U.S. Attorney Joseph McNally. “We are grateful to our law enforcement partners for their work helping obtain a prison sentence for this defendant.”
