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Postman Always Snorts Twice: Mailman Busted for Coke
By
John Del Signore
Published Nov 11, 2010
Modified Nov 11, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Nov 11, 2010
Modified Nov 11, 2010
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Through rain, snow, sleet—but especially snow—a Queens mailman delivered the mail and a couple kilos of coke, prosecutors announced yesterday. 49-year-old Felix Soto, who resides in the Bronx, faces up to twenty years in prison on charges of selling a controlled substance and second-degree conspiracy. "The defendant is accused of delivering more than just the mail while carrying out his duties as a U.S. mail carrier," Queens DA Paul Brown said in a statement [pdf]. “It is alleged that he used his position as a postal employee to put dangerous drugs out on the street. In doing so, he broke the law and betrayed the trust of the Postal Service and the public, as well." How will we ever trust the Postal Service again? Oh right, we have no choice.
Prosecutors say they caught onto Soto's side gig as a drug mule during a long-term joint narcotics investigation. Acting on a tip that a drug package had been sent through the mail and received at JFK Airport, investigators tracked the package to a post office in the Bronx, where Soto "took possession of the package in his capacity as a postal carrier." He was later spotted in uniform sitting in a U.S. Postal Service truck in the Bronx, when an individual approached the vehicle and Soto handed him the package, which contained two bricks of cocaine, each weighing approximately one kilogram and each having a street value of approximately a quarter of a million dollars."
Obviously this really blows for Soto, who is awaiting arraignment in Queens, but the real tragedy here is that none of that coke filtered down to his coworkers; maybe if they had a little Bolivian marching powder we could get our New Yorker delivered before Thursday. Whatever they're on at our local post office, it's definitely not cocaine.
Tagged
cocaine
coke
drugs
narcotics
postal service
postal worker
queens
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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