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Press Release

Former postal employee sentenced to prison for drug trafficking, mail theft

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Laquise O. Johnson, 31, of Columbus was sentenced to 36 months in prison for receiving shipments of marijuana and methamphetamine from California at a post office box he rented where he worked and for stealing items from the mail.

According to court documents, Postal Inspectors began investigating reports of drug trafficking between Ohio and California in 2017. They determined that Johnson, a processing clerk, had rented a post office box to facilitate the drug trafficking. They seized one parcel containing 1,438 grams of methamphetamine and seized another parcel with 493 grams of marijuana from Johnson after he retrieved it from the post office box at the Oakland Park post office.

Johnson also admitted that he had stolen mail containing a Bluetooth speaker and art supplies.

Johnson pleaded guilty on June 5, 2019 to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine and one count of theft of mail.

David M. DeVillers, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; and James Giehl, Inspector in Charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Pittsburgh Division announced the sentence imposed today by Senior U.S. District Court Judge James L Graham. Special Agents with the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Kenneth Cleevely, Eastern Area Field Office, also participated in this investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan J.C. Grey represented the United States in this case.

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Updated June 30, 2020

Topic
Drug Trafficking