Former Lobo football player faces up to 10 years in prison after robbing postal worker

Apr. 15—A federal jury needed less than two hours of deliberation before convicting a former University of New Mexico Lobos football player of robbing a mail carrier at gunpoint in 2022.

The announcement of the conviction was made Monday.

Rashawn Boyce, 28, was convicted of robbing a postal carrier, stealing a key belonging to the U.S. Postal Service and being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. He faces up to 10 years in prison.

Boyce is being held at the Cibola County Correctional Center in Milan. Sentencing has not been scheduled, according to a U.S. Attorney District of New Mexico news release. It says he also also is being charged with trafficking meth inside the correctional facility. A trial is scheduled for later in the year.

According to the U.S. Attorney's office, on Jan. 18, 2022, near Louisiana and Central, Boyce and his co-defendant, Marquae Kirkendoll, 23, of Chicago, pulled a mail carrier from his truck and "slammed" him to the ground.

The release states the carrier testified that both men put a pistol to his head and demanded his keys, which he handed over before a neighbor intervened. Boyce and Kirkendoll got in their car and fled.

The mail carrier received undisclosed injuries and "feared for his life," according to the Department of Justice.

The release states that after the attack, U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigators received a tip that led them to Boyce's apartment where they found clothing he was seen wearing in a video of the attack as well as a revolver and two semiautomatic guns, which investigators confiscated.

The DOJ stated that Boyce named Kirkendoll as his accomplice. Kirkendoll pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy and faces up to 20 years in prison.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case with help from Homeland Security Investigations.

Boyce played eight games at linebacker for UNM in 2017, recording 1.5 tackles for loss and one sack, according to the GoLobos.com website.