Kodiak man indicted after receiving meth package by mail
Megan Edge
February 20, 2015An Anchorage grand jury has indicted a Kodiak man for possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute, according to the Alaska U.S. Attorney's Office.
In a release, the office said 55-year-old Teodoro Berdan of Kodiak was charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute more than 50 grams of meth after he took a package containing 122 grams of the drug Feb. 7.
Berdan could face up to 40 years in prison and a $5 million fine, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
In a Feb. 9 complaint, in mid-January a U.S. Postal Inspection Service official in the Lower 48 alerted Alaska postal inspectors to packages destined for a Kodiak address that had been discovered during the course of an investigation into a meth distribution operation between California and Guam.
Then on Feb. 5, that official provided Alaska inspectors with a tracking number for a package sent from California and addressed to Berdan, the complaint said.
A drug-sniffing dog from the Alaska State Troopers and the Statewide Drug Enforcement Unit examined the package and indicated that drugs were inside.
After receiving a federal search warrant, investigators opened the package and found the meth in two layers of vacuum-sealed bags, the complaint said.
The meth was removed, except for a "representative sample," and a tracking device installed in the package, which was then delivered the following day to Berdan's home.
When the tracking device alerted law enforcement that the package had been opened, the complaint said, officers "rallied in front of the residence and announced their presence" and entered the house, eventually finding Berdan in a locked bedroom.
The complaint said that of the five people in the home at the time of their arrival, Berdan appeared to be the only person to have touched the package.
Further investigation of Berdan revealed he had $1,900 in various currencies in his wallet, the complaint states.
At the time of his arrest, officers also found "dime bags" -- used to distribute the drug -- and a digital scale, lighter, meth and its residue in a safe.
They knew about the packages, then found them in the mail. Then the dog supposedly alerted to double vacuum sealed methamphetamine. If there was any meth residue on the outside of the vacuum bags or the inside of the box/envelope or the outside of it, that could have made the dog alert. Or they could just prompt the dog to alert to the package they want to open. Either way, they knew about the contents before the dog got involved, but it is an interesting case none the less.
Doesn't sound DNM-related; sounds like a regular operation that got infiltrated and a reseller got popped.