An Akron man was sentenced to 12 years in prison for mailing large shipments of methamphetamine from California to Ohio, and a former letter carrier was sentenced to more than three years in prison for delivering the drugs.
U.S. District Judge Dan A. Polster sentenced Wesley J. Tucker, 40, to 144 months in prison. Polster sentenced former U.S. Postal employee Jailila S. Stoudemire, 28, of Euclid, to 37 months in prison.
Tucker and Stoudemire conspired together in November 2015 to distribute more than three kilograms of methamphetamine.
Stoudemire provided Tucker with addresses on her mail route so she could intercept the drugs and deliver the methamphetamine to Tucker, according to court documents.
They arranged for parcels containing methamphetamine to be shipped from post offices in Sacramento and Garden Grove, California, to addresses on White Pond Drive and Liberty Drive in Akron. Stoudemire received the packages, removed the contents and attempted to deliver them to Tucker, according to court documents.
“We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to aggressively prosecuted those who ship dangerous drugs into our community," Acting U.S. Attorney David A. Sierleja said.
USPS OIG Special Agent in Charge Monica Weyler, Eastern Area Field Office, stated: “The vast majority of the 600,000 postal employees nationwide are hard-working, trustworthy individuals dedicated to delivering mail every day. For some reason, a select few decide to risk their freedom and good paying job to deliver drugs to drug dealers for what is a very small amount of money. The prison sentences handed down in this case should be a warning that USPS OIG special agents, postal inspectors, and local law enforcement aggressively investigate all allegations of postal employees facilitating drug trafficking in our communities. To report crimes committed by postal employees, contact 888-USPS-OIG or www.uspsoig.gov."
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Henry F. DeBaggis following an investigation by the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Akron Police Department.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
