As reported by CBS and several others, a mail carrier that used her route to move over 18 kilograms of cocaine starting in October of 2010 until the day she was arrested, August 24, has been charged with conspiracy with intent to distribute cocaine and mail theft.
According to federal authorities, C.N., of Lyndhurst, allegedly moved the falsely addressed packages for a Puerto Rico-based drug trafficking organization.
C.N. confessed to receiving the packages and passing them on to her con-conspirator in Camden, N.J. She did not enter a plea at her initial appearance on August 28 and has since been released on a $100,000 bail.
C.N., 30, worked in a post office in Secaucus. Since her arrest, her employment, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service, is unconfirmed.
Along with C.N., a man known to be her boyfriend, L.V., 36, also of Lyndhurst, was also arrested and charged.
The U.S. attorney's office has yet to put a value on the 18 kilograms of cocaine C.N. allegedly moved.
In February of 2011 U.S. postal inspectors had collected an Express Mail parcel that was meant to be delivered to a location in C.N.'s route. The package, according to the criminal complaint, contained cocaine. Federal authorities were contacted.
The investigation led to more packages, with similar weights and chronological tracking numbers – all for inaccurate addresses along C.N.'s route – going back to October 2010.
Allegedly, C.N. then switched to receiving packages at her home, or her boyfriends' former home, while she was out on medical leave.
One package had cocaine hidden inside a bag of coffee. Investigators removed the cocaine, put in a different material, and then also added a GPS tracking device inside the package. Surveillance of C.N. along her route, coupled with monitoring the inside of her mail truck, led investigators to her home.
C.N. brought the package, containing the GPS, into her home instead of delivering it anywhere.
In the complaint the U.S. attorney for New Jersey wrote, "…suspicious package was sent from Dorado, Puerto Rico, on August 22, 2012. Once the package arrived in Kearny, N.J., law enforcement noted that the delivery address on the package would be assigned to (C.N.'s) mail route. The package was later determined to contain approximately 600 grams of cocaine. The cocaine was seized and replaced with a substance similar in appearance to the original contents of the package. The package was placed back into circulation for delivery. On August 24, 2012, (C.N.) failed to deliver the package to its delivery address. At the end of her shift, (C.N.) returned to her residence in Lyndhurst, N.J., with the package, and she and (L.V.) were arrested."
After C.N. and her boyfriend were arrested they admitted to the scheme that involved receiving the packages that they knew had drugs in them, scanning them as delivered and resending them to the co-conspirator in Camden.
For every package that C.N. handled she was paid between $500 and $600.
If you have been charged with a crime make sure to contact a criminal defense attorney before entering your plea. Only an experienced attorney will know the best way to handle your case.
