Law enforcement officers arrested a man this month after an investigation into a suspicious piece of priority mail coming from Puerto Rico and headed to a Scranton address.
On March 20, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service alerted members of the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office, Homeland Security and Scranton police to the package, which raised “red flags” because of inconsistencies in the South Webster Avenue address and other concerning characteristics.
A state police K-9 officer alerted investigators to potential drugs inside the package.
Agents opened the parcel and found over 1,000 grams — about 2¼ pounds — of cocaine hidden inside a set of packaged bedsheets.
Authorities replaced the cocaine with sham drugs and conducted a controlled delivery to the residence in the 300 block of South Webster Avenue.
They watched as a man retrieved the package and handed it over to Luis Garcia in a parked vehicle.
Investigators attempted to stop Garcia as he sat in the vehicle, but he fled.
Officers pursued him and he was quickly apprehended. The other man was also arrested.
Garcia, 24, claimed he didn’t know what was in the package and was simply retrieving it for someone else.
He faces felony counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and criminal use of a communication facility. He is also charged with fleeing police officers.
He remains in Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bail.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Thursday before District Judge Sean McGraw.