Cleveland Mail Carriers Indicted for Delivering Shipments of Marijuana

Five U.S. Postal workers were indicted after they helped arrange shipments of marijuana sent via U.S. mail and gave them to another drug dealer, according to Carole S. Rendon, Acting U.S. States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

Named in the 11-count indictment are Aaron L. Kelly, 28, Dartagnan B. Mitchell, 28, Tamika S. Embry, 32, Devon Blake, 25, and Rashon Blake, 25.

The postal carriers, all of Cleveland, were charged with conspiring to distribute marijuana after they informed Kevin Collins of their work schedules and the addresses on their delivery routes. According to the indictment, Collins then arranged for packages of the substance to be shipped to addresses on the routes of the defendants, when they were scheduled to be working.

Instead of delivering the packages containing marijuana to their listed address, Kelly, Mitchell, Embry, Blake, and Blake brought them directly to Collins. Attempting to disguise the delivery status of the packages, they were often improperly scanned or not at all.

This report from the Department of Justice stated that Collins was said to have paid cash to the defendants in return for their actions. 

Collins has pled guilty to charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana and using firearm during drug trafficking crime and is currently awaiting sentencing.

If convicted, the court will determine the defendant's sentence after reviewing all factors specific to this case, including the defendant's prior criminal records, if any. In all cases, the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.

The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General Special Agent in Charge of the Eastern Area Field Office, Monica S. Weyler, said: 

"The vast majority of the nation’s 400,000 postal employees are honest, hard-working individuals. It is troubling when a few of those employees choose to violate the trust given to them to use their positions for personal gain. These investigations show that USPS OIG special agents and postal inspectors will work diligently to find those few employees who choose to deliver drugs instead of the mail, and will seek their criminal prosecution and removal from the Postal Service. The employees named in these charges threw away their federal career for a few hundred dollars. Other employees who are engaging in this conduct should ask themselves, is it worth it? To report postal employee misconduct or criminal activity, contact special agents at 888-USPS-OIG or www.uspsoig.gov.”

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys, Matthew B. Kall and Daniel J. Riedl. The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Office of Inspector General, Cleveland.