Pubdate: Monday, July 13, 1998
Source: The Bangor Daily News
Contact:  http://www.bangornews.com/
Author: Mary Anne Lagasse, Of the NEWS Staff

PACKAGE WAS DELIVERED TO HOME

SKOWHEGAN - Local police, working with a Maine Drug Enforcement agent who
posed as a United Parcel Service delivery man, seized 8 pounds of marijuana
and 2 ounces of methamphetamine in a package sent to a Skowhegan residence
from Arizona.

Skowhegan Police Chief Butch Asselin said the drugs seized Friday night
from 19 Parlin St. had a street value of more than $20,000. The chief said
no arrests were made, but charges are pending.

Asselin said MDEA agents called his department Friday morning about the
delivery to a local residence of a package from Arizona containing drugs.

Before the package reached Maine for delivery, UPS officials in New
Hampshire noticed something was suspicious about it and contacted the MDEA.
"It was obvious to UPS that the package contained an illegal substance,"
said Asselin. MDEA agents went to New Hampshire and picked up the package.

In the meantime, police obtained a warrant from Bangor District Court to
search the residence at 19 Parlin St. "An MDEA agent posing as a UPS driver
delivered the package. Within minutes, we entered the residence with a
warrant and conducted a search of the property," said Asselin.

The chief said the package containing 8 pounds of marijuana and 2 ounces of
methamphetamine had not been opened. Police seized the contents of it,
along with other drug-related items.

Asselin said the home is rented by Cheryl Cole, but the package was not
addressed to her.

"The person the package was addressed to wasn't there," said the police
chief. He declined to say to whom the package was addressed because the
case remains under investigation.

The police said the person the package was addressed to had applied for a
concealed-weapons permit renewal from local police. In the process of
checking the information, Asselin said, he found the man had a felony
conviction in Rhode Island for unemployment fraud, so the permit was denied.

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