Can you explain how people are prosecuted on cases where they receive drugs in the mail?
These are tricky cases. Most of the cases where people receive drugs in the mail, the feds are involved. If the FBI or the postal inspectors are involved it means there is a very large investigation going on and the case is not just about the single delivery of narcotics in one delivery.
Not Your Name
If it is just a case of a single delivery with the local police and the local DA’s office, they have to prove that the narcotics are actually your narcotics and/or that you knew about the shipment. The first thing to look at is to whom the package addressed. If the package is not addressed in your name, why were you at the post office to pick it up? If it is not to you and it is delivered to your house, did you sign for it? What name did you use for the signature? If it is not in your name, and you go to the post office to pick it up, what did you say to the person at the counter? Did you say you were that person? Did you say that you didn’t know why you keep getting this note, etc? Again, if it came to your house via regular mail, then how can they show that you knew anything other then that you just took your mail in, which all of us do and is not a criminal act.
Your Name
If the parcel is in your name, how can the government prove that you knew there were drugs in the package? What if it came to you in the regular mail–nothing special. How can they show you had a criminal intent if they can’t prove that you knew what was in the mail. Obviously most people don’t receive shipments of drugs in the mail to their house though. However, what if someone sent to you in your name as a set-up.
The point is that in all cases of drugs in the mail, the government needs way more than just the arrest with you in possession of the narcotics. Usually, when we see these cases, there is a much larger investigation involving online tracking, phone tracking, credit card tracking, and cooperating witnesses.
Call Brain Zeiger for help with your situation. We have experience representing drug crimes in Philadelphia.
