PORTLAND — A New Jersey man who took part in a swashbuckling conspiracy to rob postal carriers and burglarize post offices across central Maine was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court to five years in prison.

Lance Funderburk, 32, pleaded guilty in October to four of five counts related a spree involving mail theft, post office break-ins, check fraud and robberies by knifepoint.

U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Torreson sentenced Funderburk to 60 months on each charge to be served concurrently. The charges were conspiracy to rob postal carriers and burglarize post offices, robbery of postal property, burglary of a post office and conspiracy to commit access device fraud. One count of possession of stolen mail was dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

In early 2024, Funderburk and accomplice William McLeod, 31, of Auburn, organized and carried out a conspiracy to burgle post offices in Paris and Monmouth and to rob two U.S. Postal Service carriers in Lewiston. Their efforts also included intercepting checks and fraudulently depositing them into various accounts linked to false identities.

According to the USPS affidavit filed in federal court, the conspiracy took shape when the pair broke into the post office at 39 Tremont St. in Paris on Jan. 14, 2024. Investigators found two iPhones under the window used to access the building, one with a lock screen identifying McLeod.

Two days later, the North Monmouth post office at 140 North Main St. was targeted. Surveillance footage captured two masked people forcing their way into the post office, where they stole mail and postal property.

The conspiracy took its final turn four days later on Jan. 20, 2024, when the pair were arrested and charged after holding up two letter carriers by knifepoint in Lewiston.

McLeod pleaded guilty in July 2024 to these felony counts: conspiracy to rob U.S. postal carriers and burglarize U.S. post offices, robbery of a U.S. postal carrier, and two counts of burglary of a U.S. post office. He was sentenced in November to 57 months in prison and three years of supervised release.

Torreson, who presided over both Funderburk’s and McLeod’s cases, remarked on the severity of the crimes that there is “something appalling about holding up a postal carrier.” Torreson also remarked to McLeod, “you weren’t a very good burglar” for dropping his mobile phone in the snow at the Paris post office.