Tucson UPS workers allegedly ran massive drug trafficking scheme

TUCSON, Ariz. — A group of United Parcel Service employees allegedly helped import and traffic massive amounts of drugs and counterfeit vaping oils from Mexico during the past decade, part of a scheme that exploited a vulnerability in the company’s distribution system, according to police.

The lucrative operation at times involved moving thousands of pounds of marijuana and narcotics each week from narco-traffickers into the United States to destinations across the country, using standard cardboard boxes that were carefully routed through the private carrier’s trucking and delivery systems, authorities said.

Four UPS employees have been charged with drug trafficking in state court, and court records show that at least 11 people have been arrested in the past two weeks on a slew of state charges stemming from the decadelong investigation by local, state and federal law enforcement.

Investigators from the Counter Narcotics Alliance said accused ringleader Mario Barcelo — a 20-year UPS employee and dispatch supervisor — used a simple method to obscure the origin and destination of drug shipments.

Authorities said Barcelo, 49, used his position as a supervisor in the Tucson distribution facility to ensure known drug shipments were loaded onto the correct trucks and were delivered on time without any interference, bypassing security measures the employees knew well.

Tucson-area law enforcement had been tracking Barcelo since at least 2009, but Tucson Police Sgt. William Kaderly said detectives were frustrated for years that the company did not work more “proactively” with them to intercept and prevent the suspected criminal behavior.

UPS said in a statement that the company is cooperating with law enforcement officials but that the company is “not at liberty to discuss the details of the arrests as this is an ongoing investigation.”

Some of the defendants were arraigned this week, but prosecutors have withheld specific details of the investigation from public court record because more arrests are expected soon.

Charging documents obtained by The Washington Post show that progress in the case did not come until 2017, when detectives identified UPS drivers who were allegedly involved in the scheme and got UPS fraud and security investigators to help.

Along with Barcelo, UPS supervisor Gary Love, 40, and drivers Michael Castro, 34, and Thomas Mendoza, 47, face charges of money laundering, drug possession and drug distribution. Seven others are facing charges related to the shipping of the drugs and operating stash houses for the illicit materials.