Postal worker delivered marijuana

A former U.S. Postal Service worker is facing federal prison after she admitted she took cash bribes in exchange for delivering packages that she knew contained some kind of drugs.

Evelyn Ramona Price, 53, of Deerfield Beach, said she illegally redirected several packages on her Boca Raton delivery route over a period of about five months last year.

She lost her job as a mail carrier in October when authorities said they discovered she was breaking the law.

On Friday, she pleaded guilty to bribery of a public official. The offense carries a maximum punishment of 15 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, though Price will likely receive a lesser penalty when she is sentenced in September.

Price told investigators she met a man she knew only as “Steve” in June 2016 and she agreed to provide him with addresses on her route where packages could be sent.

The man would call her on the morning the packages were due to arrive at the post office and arrange a meeting place for her to deliver the packages to him, according to court records.

He gave her $50 per package when she dropped them off to him, either at a local supermarket or veterinary office, she said.

Price said she was never told what the packages contained but told investigators: “I figured it was some kind of drugs, but I don’t know what drugs.”

She said she received at least one or two packages per month, starting in June 2016. She was able to recognize the packages because they always looked the same and were addressed in the same handwriting, she said.

On Oct. 27, Price intended to deliver four packages to the man but he called off their meeting that morning and told her “something was not right,” she said.

After she finished her deliveries and returned to the post office, Price was questioned by investigators and admitted what she had been doing.

Authorities seized the four packages, which they said contained a total of more than 20 pounds of marijuana. The packages bore return addresses in Florida or Brooklyn, N.Y., but were postmarked from California.

Price has remained free on $50,000 bond since she surrendered in April. At the time, she said her mail carrier job had paid about $800 a week but she had lost her job in late October after she was questioned about the packages.