FORT MYERS, Fla. — Lee County deputies arrested a man after they say they intercepted a package containing 50 Xanax pills outside the U.S. Postal Service processing center located on Jetport Loop near Southwest Florida International Airport.
On Wednesday, a USPS spokesperson confirmed the facility went into lockdown around noon for nearly 30 minutes.
“The customer service entrance was shut down for approximately 30 minutes out of an abundance of caution for the safety of all parties involved,” the spokesman said. “There was no threat to the facility, employees, or customers.”
An employee inside the post office at the time of the lockdown told WINK Investigates they saw six law enforcement vehicles and postal inspectors located near the front of the USPS facility.
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno in an interview Thursday said USPS inspectors alerted the Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement about the package after postal employees reported they suspected the package might contain narcotics.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office brought in a canine unit, which confirmed the presence of narcotics. Sheriff Marceno said they secured search warrants for both the package and Pesantas’ residence.
Investigators later determined that the suspicious package was also paid for with cryptocurrency. Sheriff Marceno noted that investigators have seen a rise in criminals using cryptocurrency.
“It does raise a flag of suspicion, and just that alone doesn’t mean something’s wrong with the package, but what we do then is utilizing a canine and an open-air sniff of that package,” Sheriff Marceno said.
He continued to say, “It detects narcotics, and right away we know that we have to build that investigation from there, which led us to a search warrant of the package and a search warrant to the person’s house and the arrest.”
Pesantas was arrested by LCSO and FDLE deputies when he arrived at the post office to pick up the package. At the time of his arrest, deputies say Pesantas had narcotics.
After searching Pesantas’ residence, deputies say they uncovered a variety of controlled substances, including 260 alprazolam pills, 28 clonazepam pills, 19 clonidine hydrochloride pills, and 13 pantoprazole pills.
According by records obtained by WINK News, Pesantas has a prior criminal history involving battery and possession of a controlled substance.
Sheriff Marceno said Pesantas has also previously received several packages under similar suspicious circumstances.
Pesantas is now facing charges of two counts of possession of a controlled substance and two counts of possession of a new legend drug.
WINK News is committed to following this story and will update you as more information becomes available.