CHARLOTTE AMALIE — A St. Croix man who received methamphetamines and marijuana in the U.S. mail was arrested by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations special agents on Friday and charged with being a illegal drug dealer, authorities said.
Jason Lee Current, 43, of St. Croix, made an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge George Cannon on charges of conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute and attempted possession of controlled substance with intent to distribute, U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert said today.
According to court documents, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in San Juan, Puerto Rico intercepted a mail parcel that contained 120 grams of methamphetamine and 341 grams of marijuana on November 5.
The package was mailed from California and addressed to Current. On
November 10, the parcel was prepared by law enforcement for a controlled pickup.
The controlled substances were replaced with representative facsimiles (sham), and the parcel was outfitted with a tracking device. That same day, Current picked up the parcel at a postal facility.
Law enforcement surveillance monitored the pick-up, but Current eluded the tailing vehicles after detecting the tracking device.
Current was subsequently taken into custody on Friday, Shappert said..
Current has an outstanding felony warrant from the state of Hawaii for failure to appear. As a result, the government moved to detain Current pending his trial in this matter.
A detention hearing is set for Thursday.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Huston.
Shappert said that an arrest warrant is merely a formal charging document and is not in and of itself evidence of guilt.
“Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty,” she said.