Business Mailed 340 Pounds Of Pot; Man Charged
GRIFFITH, Ind. (STMW) - Federal officials are continuing to investigate a package addressed to a northwest Indiana business that turned out to contain 340 pounds of marijuana.
The FBI applied for a warrant Tuesday to search suspect Daniel Rivas' phone, although the executed warrant, filed Friday in the U.S. District Court in Hammond, does not specify what they found.
The package first came to the attention of police after employees at YRC Worldwide, a shipping company in south suburban Sauk Village alerted them to it, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The package arrived at YRC on March 28, with the shipping address listed as Algozine Masonry Restoration, 2000 N. Lafayette St., Griffith. The return address was one in Brownsville, Texas.
Sauk Village police discovered eight silver bags inside, each one carrying 35 to 50 pounds of marijuana. Police then contacted the FBI, which took the package to the Munster Police Department.
When a man identified as Rivas called YRC to ask about the package, the FBI decided to deliver the package to him on March 30 and watched him as he took the package apart and placed the eight bags in another truck, according to the affidavit.
He was charged with possessing with the intent to distribute. He has been released on a $20,000 bond.
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