Police charge 2 with receiving meth by mail
Two men from Phoenix have been charged with receiving methamphetamine in the mail at a Cranberry Township home.
According to charging documents, Juan Paredes, 26, and Cruz Antonio Lozoya-Ramirez, 27, have been charged and arrested on felony drug charges. Both are being held in Butler County Prison in lieu of $100,000 bond.
The documents said the U.S. Postal Inspection Service notified state agents of a suspicious package intended for delivery at a home on Landis Avenue in Cranberry Township.State agents from the Attorney General Bureau of Narcotics Investigations received and executed a search warrant Wednesday on the package and discovered it contained suspected crystal meth.“Further court approval was given to place an electronic monitoring device in the package and to arrange for an agent to deliver the package, which was repackaged with a noncontrolled substance of similar appearance,” the documents said.The substitute had been sprayed with an “invisible fluorescent powder, which can be seen using an ultraviolet light source.”The package was delivered Thursday.
Documents said Paredes was identified as he picked up the package and went back inside the home. Shortly afterward, the device inside the package alerted agents that it had been opened.According to documents, a search warrant was executed moments later, and authorities found Paredes and Lozoya-Ramirez both in the home.“The package was found on the floor of the hallway, and the contents (the repackaged fake narcotic) were discovered in the next room behind a fake wall,” the documents said.According to the documents, upon entry, Lozoya-Ramirez appeared to be coming from the room where the narcotics were found, and Paredes came from the bathroom, next to where the package was found.Authorities found residue from the fluorescent powder on both defendants, and agents also found Lozoya-Ramirez with $8,000 in cash, according to documents.The documents also noted that a witness confirmed Parades picked up two other packages earlier in the month, which postal records showed were shipped from Arizona.District Judge David Kovach arraigned both men Friday, and both defendants are due in court for a preliminary hearing at 11 a.m. Friday.
