LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — A former postal worker and a co-conspirator were convicted of attempting to sell over four pounds of cocaine after police arranged a sting operation to catch the mailman delivering the drugs while on his normal mail route, according to the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office.
The investigation began on March 8, 2022, when Customs and Border Protection – Puerto Rico contacted the Department of Homeland Security to report a seized package that was heading from Puerto Rico to Lancaster County. A similar package was shipped the next day.
Investigators determined that the parcels contained a combined 2,010 grams of cocaine. Law enforcement further discovered that the packages were being sent to fake people attached to real addresses and the packages were gong through the same delivery route.
On March 17, 2022, the Pennsylvania State Police, Department of Homeland Security and members of the United States Postal Service sent a fake kilogram of cocaine on the same route the confiscated packages were to travel.
Investigators say they witnessed Carlos Medina, 57, of Lititz, who worked for the USPS at the time, hand over the fake drugs to Estanislao Sanchez-Diaz, 50, of the Dominican Republic, who was waiting with another person in a blue Honda Accord.
When interviewed, Medina allegedly admitted that an unknown person had approached him and offered him $1,000 per delivery to carry and deliver the packages while on his mail route. He allegedly knew the packages contained illegal material.
Medina was found guilty on charges of possessing with intent to deliver cocaine, criminal use of a communication facility and criminal conspiracy. Sanchez-Diaz entered an open guilty plea on the same charges. Both will be sentenced following a presentence investigation.
