Crime & Safety
Essex County Man Used USPS To Ship Weed To New Jersey: Prosecutor
An Essex County man admitted that he bribed two USPS workers to help him ship marijuana from California to New Jersey, prosecutors said.
ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — A Newark man admitted to conspiring to obtain marijuana from California to sell in New Jersey, as well as paying cash bribes to two U.S. Postal Service (USPS) mail carriers to intercept and deliver parcels to him, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office (New Jersey), Glenn Blackstone, 48, pleaded guilty in Newark federal court to one count of giving bribes and one count of conspiracy to distribute marijuana.
Blackstone was released on $100,000 unsecured bond, prosecutors said.
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According to court documents and statements, from October 2014 to September 2017, Blackstone purchased marijuana from a conspirator who produced the weed in California and oversaw shipping it in parcels from California and Nevada. Blackstone then sold the cannabis to others in Newark.
Prosecutors said that Blackstone provided the then-USPS mail carrier, Leonard Gresham, 50, of Rahway, and another then-USPS mail carrier about $12,400 in cash payments to deliver the parcels to him. These parcels had fictitious names and addresses on them and were not addressed directly to Blackstone.
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“On multiple occasions, Blackstone asked the mail carriers to remove the parcels from the normal delivery stream and deliver them instead to him at various locations in Newark,” prosecutors said.
Blackstone paid the letter carriers approximately $50 to $100 in cash for each delivery, according to prosecutors.
On Feb. 13, Gresham pleaded guilty to an information charging him with one count of accepting bribes. He is scheduled to be sentenced May 30.
Prosecutors said that the drug conspiracy count that Blackstone is charged with is punishable by a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison, a maximum of 40 years in prison and a fine of up to $5 million, or twice the gross gain from the offense. The bribery count is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.
Sentencing is scheduled for July 24, prosecutors said.
- See related article: NJ Marijuana Arrest Totals Remain High
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