ST. LOUIS - U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Thursday sentenced Christopher Ali Pate, a man who stole mail from mailboxes in Chesterfield, Missouri, to 19 months in prison.

Pate, 32, pleaded guilty in March in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one felony count of mail theft. His co-defendant, Eryk Campbell, 28, pleaded guilty to the same charge in February.

Both men stole mail from multiple mailboxes in Chesterfield on Aug. 28, 2023, at the direction of Pate, before driving to a gas station in St. Louis. When a police vehicle drove onto the gas station lot, Pate and Campbell fled and refused to stop for police, throwing stolen mail out of the vehicle as they drove away.

Campbell was sentenced to six months behind bars and 16 months of supervised release.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Cort VanOstran prosecuted the case.