LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — A former U.S. Postal Worker was sentenced up to ten years in prison on Friday for conspiring to sell over 2,000 grams of cocaine in Lancaster County during his shift.
Carlos Medina, 57, was previously found guilty by Judge Spahn on March 4 following a stipulated bench trial on charges with intent to deliver cocaine, criminal use of a communication facility and criminal conspiracy.
Medina was sentenced to four and a half to ten years in prison by Lancaster County Judge Merrill Spahn, according to the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office.
Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Rall prosecuted the case and asked for consecutive sentences on the convictions "due to the fact that Mr. Medina committed these acts while employed by the U.S. Postal Service."
“This was a great abuse of his job and position,” Rall said.
On March 8, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security was contacted by Customs and Border Protection in Puerto Rico about a seized parcel being shipped from Puerto Rico to a Lancaster County home.
Homeland Security was contacted again the next day regarding a similar package being shipped to a second location in Lancaster County. CBP Puerto Rico conducted field tests on both packages that yielded positive results for cocaine.
The first package contained 1,007 grams of cocaine and the second contained 1,003 grams of cocaine, according to the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office.
Both packages were determined to be sent to actual addresses in Lancaster County but with fake names. It was also determined the packages were being shipped through the same delivery route.
On March 17, 2022, the Pennsylvania State Police, Department of Homeland Security, and members of the US Postal Service conducted a controlled delivery of a sham kilo of cocaine on the same route the confiscated packages were to travel.
Investigators reportedly observed Medina, a US Postal Worker at the time, hand over the sham package of cocaine to codefendant Estanislao Sanchez-Diaz and another individual in a blue Honda Accord.
According to the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office, Medina admitted through a subsequent interview that he was approached by an unknown man about delivering these parcels on his mail route, knowing the contents of the parcels were illegal, and accepting $1,000 per delivery of the parcels.
