One UPS driver was delivering a bit more than new shoes from Zappos or orders from Amazon.com – the jury said he was distributing marijuana.
Stanley William Taylor Jr., 36, of Cleveland, Ohio, was found guilty Sept. 15 of conspiracy to possess marijuana with intent to distribute, according to a news release from the District of Arizona’s Office of the United States Attorney.
The gig was going on for the past two years, with drug traffickers in Arizona buying wholesale quantities of marijuana then shipping it out to buyers in New York, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and, yes – Taylor’s home state of Ohio.
“The defendant agreed to use his position as a UPS delivery driver in Cleveland, Ohio, to assist the drug trafficking organization with the delivery of boxes filled with illegal drugs, ” the release says.
The drug traffickers’ ledgers and banking records showed sales of more than 6,900 pounds of marijuana and more than $900,000 in cash deposits.
While the release did not disclose how much of a cut Taylor received for risking his job, reputation and freedom, we can guess it must have been lucrative to take such a gamble.
Or perhaps he simply wanted a change of uniform, trading in the bland UPS brown for an eye-catching orange.
Taylor’s sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 6 with U.S. District Court Judge Susan R. Bolton, the same judge that presided at the trial and was decided by a federal jury in Phoenix.
The maximum sentence Taylor can receive for the charge, specifically conspiracy to possess at least 100 kilograms of marijuana with intent to distribute, is 40 years, a $2 million fine, or both.
Hope he saved some of that supplemented income.
[tnipoll]
Credit where it’s due:
The investigation leading to the guilty verdict was conducted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, the Mesa Police Department, the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Tempe Police Department, the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The prosecution was handled by Kory A. Langhofer and Krissa Lanham, assistant U.S. attorneys with the District of Arizona in Phoenix.
“The success of a drug trafficking organization requires the complicity of many – and this verdict demonstrates you will be held to answer,” said Dennis K. Burke, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona.
What do you think?
Would you risk your job by using it as a front for illegal activity?
Would you risk your job for anything?
Do you steal paper clips?
