JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Three Florida men sent teddy bears stuffed with cocaine and cash in the mail in an attempt to distribute drugs between the U.S. and Puerto Rico, investigators said.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said drug authorities in Puerto Rico first contacted them in January about a suspicious package, a teddy bear stuffed with two kilos of cocaine and a tracking device, that was sent to Edgar Lopez in Jacksonville, WJAX reported.
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Around the same time, the Postal Service discovered another package, a teddy bear stuffed with cash, sent to Puerto Rico with Yaddiel Lopez’s return address in Jacksonville on it, officials said.
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Investigators found multiple locations, including private residences and a business around Jacksonville, where shipments were delivered. Narcotics detectives, postal inspectors and a drug detection canine from the Florida Highway Patrol found a third package delivered Feb. 23 containing a cocaine-filled teddy bear.
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On Feb. 26, Edgar Lopez, 28; Yaddiel Lopez, 24; and Cassidy Martinez-Iglesias were arrested and charged with cocaine trafficking and conspiring with another to traffic in cocaine, investigators said. Martinez-Iglesias was also charged with four counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Investigators also seized more than five kilos of cocaine, $130,000, multiple firearms and a BMW.
This afternoon, Director Mike Bruno held a news conference regarding a joint investigation by the JSO Narcotics Unit...
Posted by Jacksonville Sheriff's Office on Thursday, March 4, 2021
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