Meth discovery in mail leads to arrest
An Owensboro man was charged with trafficking in meth and aggravated drug trafficking, after an investigation by the Daviess County Sheriff’s office.
Sheriff Brad Youngman said the investigation began when Deputy Russ Day, a K-9 officer, was at a U.S Postal Service facility with his service dog, Astor, doing an “open air sniff” of packages that had been delivered and were undergoing processing.
Packages containing drugs are not uncommon, and the packages do not look outwardly suspicious, Youngman said.
“So, we make time for our K-9 to to go those facilities to perform open-air sniffs,” Youngman said. The dog alerted on a package intended for Brodie C. Payne II 28, of the 1500 block of Leitchfield Road, Youngman said.
A sheriff’s office press release says investigators got a search warrant and found about a half-pound of suspected crystal methamphetamine inside. The release says a “controlled delivery operation” was set up, and that Payne was arrested Tuesday afternoon when he came to pick up the package.
“When he (Payne) came to get it, the postal inspector was able to retrieve other (packages) the dog had not hit on,” Youngman said.
The press releases say the three additional packages contained 340 grams of fentanyl pills pressed to resemble Xanax, and a cutting powder used to mix with drugs in drug trafficking operations.
The press release says various agencies were involved in the investigation, including the Kentucky State Police, Homeland Security Investigations, the Postal Inspection Service and the offices of the U.S. Attorney and Commonwealth’s Attorney Mike Van Meter.
Payne was charged with first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance (meth), aggravated trafficking in a controlled substance (greater than 28 grams of fentanyl), possession of drug paraphernalia and flagrant non-support.
Payne was being held Tuesday evening in the Daviess County Detention Center.
Youngman said state and federal agencies would work to trace the packages back to their source.
