A Yukon man was arrested last week after a package of drugs was delivered by mail to his home.
Reports say a U.S. Postal Service worker identified a package at a postal processing center as having strong odor of marijuana.A drug sniffing-dog hit on the package, indicating that it contained a controlled substance, and the Postal Service notified law enforcement.
Canadian County Sheriff's Deputies obtained a search warrant for the address on the package, which was then delivered to the home. A woman holding an infant signed for the package, according to reports.
The package is alleged to have contained eight pounds of marijuana valued at nearly $100,000. Deputies arrested William C. Garbe, 30, on a complaint of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.Canadian County Sheriff Randall Edwards calls Garbe "the first step in a drug smuggling ring operating in the Oklahoma City area."
The Oklahoma Department of Human Services took the infant who was present during the receipt of the package into protective custody, and the Sheriff's Office has filed to obtain a warrant for the arrest of the woman who signed for the package.
You might think delivering drugs via mail seems to a pretty obvious way to get caught. It doesn't seem as bad as trying to use a drone to fly drugs and contraband into the state penitentiary, but enough drugs shipments are discovered in the U.S. mail that sticking a stamp on eight pounds of pot seems like a bad plan.
However, drug shipments pass through the mail and other shipping companies like UPS and FedEx with startling frequency.
In April 2014, a U.S. News & World Report article reported that Attorney General Eric Holder told a Senate Appropriations Committee that drug delivery through the mail was a pressing problem for communities across the nation:
"The postal service, the mails are being used to facilitate drug dealing. It is shocking to see the amount of drugs that get pumped into communities all around this country through our mail system, and we have to deal with that."
The article cites a report from The Advocate stating that the U.S. Postal Inspection Service made 1,760 arrests in 2012 for attempting to deliver drugs through the USPS--up 33 percent from the previous year.
And the online "deep web" journal Vocativ calls the USPS "the biggest drug courier in America." The reason? Drug dealers and distributors have found that it is relatively easy to ship drugs through the mail, and for them, the benefit outweighs the risk. Vocativ writes:
"Pretty much all dark net vendors stick with the USPS first-class shipments. Why? It's simple. Compared with private shipping services like FedEx, the USPS (theoretically) has more protections against warrantless searches."
But obviously, shipping drugs through the mail is not without risk, and the penalties for violating state and federal drug crimes can be severe.If you are accused of sending or receiving an illegal controlled substance, contact a defense attorney at once.
