A Cleveland man already in federal custody for drug trafficking was charged with attempting to possess more than 300 grams of fentanyl, as well escape.
Rayshawn Ligon escaped from Oriana House Residential Reentry Center on March 2, 2019, while in the custody of Federal Correctional Institution McKean, according to the indictment.
On March 1, Ligon attempted to possess with the intent to distribute 331 grams of fentanyl, according to the indictment.
According to court documents: agents from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service intercepted a package addressed to a home on East 78th Street in Cleveland that contained blue pills that tested positive for fentanyl. Investigators replaced the pills with inert ones and inserted a tracking device into the package before trying to make a controlled delivery.
The package was delivered to the East 78th Street address on March 1. Ligon arrived at the house in a Jeep, then left minutes later with the package. Ligon drove to a residence on East 246th Street in Euclid, went inside with the package, then walked outside with the opened package.
Investigators attempted to stop Ligon. He drove away at a high rate of speed, threw the package out the window (later recovered), apparently lost control of the Jeep and ran over a real estate sign, and then ran away. Police had the vehicle towed and recovered Ligon’s driver’s license and birth certificate from the Jeep, according to court documents.
If convicted, the defendants’ sentence will be determined by the Court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendants’ prior criminal records, if any, the defendants’ role in the offense and the characteristics of the violations. In all cases, the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and, in most cases, it will be less than the maximum.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Drug Enforcement Administration. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patrick Burke and Danielle Angeli.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. The burden of proof is always on the government to prove a defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
