A woman who worked for a post office in New Jersey was recently accused of delivering more than mail. According to federal authorities, the 20-year-old woman was involved in accepting and distributing packages containing cocaine. The woman was arrested and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey reported that she was being charged with conspiracy with intent to distribute cocaine and a second charge of mail theft.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office became involved because the crime that was alleged involved the United States Postal Service and allegedly crossed state lines. According to the federal investigation, the packages containing the cocaine came from Puerto Rico and were intercepted in the Secaucus post office.
According to investigators, there were approximately around 18 kilograms of cocaine involved in the scheme that lasted from October 2010 through Aug. 24, 2012. The investigation began in February 2011 when a postal inspector found a package that contained 1,569 grams of cocaine. The package was addressed to a home along the woman’s route. The postal inspector then made a call to authorities.
Agents then found that there were other packages of similar weight and size that had been sent to addresses that did not exist along the route. When the investigators found cocaine in a subsequent package, they replaced it with a GPS tracking device and began monitoring her actions by placing a video feed in her vehicle. It is unclear at this point whether the woman got caught up in a larger scheme.
Source: SF Gate, “Feds: NJ mail carrier distributed cocaine packages,” Samantha Henry, Aug. 28, 2012
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