Two charged after federal agents track package of fentanyl to house
YOUNGSTOWN — A man who ordered more than $38,000 of fentanyl from China tracked the package on his phone like someone would track an order they placed for something online, a federal affidavit says.
The package made its way from China until it was delivered by an undercover federal agent to a home on Judson Avenue on Wednesday, according to an affidavit filed in the U.S. Northern District Court of Ohio in the arrests of Michael Lawrence, 43, of Youngstown and Dainon Jones, 37, of Girard.
Before the package was delivered, agents were able to place a device inside that would emit a tone when the package was opened, according to the affidavit.
Lawrence was arraigned last week before U.S. Magistrate Judge George Limbert and is free on $20,000 unsecured bond. Jones waived a detention hearing and is being held in custody.
The case is now expected to be presented before a federal grand jury.
There was more than 273 grams of fentanyl in the package, according to the affidavit.
Lt. Jeff Solic of the Austintown Police Department, who also heads up the Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force, which took part in the investigation, said that often in the Mahoning Valley, drug dealers will sell fentanyl and claim that it is heroin.
Solic said the average cost of a gram of heroin is between $120 and $140. At $140 a gram, the fentanyl in the package was worth more than $38,000. But Solic said that four pounds of chemicals used to dilute the fentanyl and increase its volume were also found in a home in Girard. That increased the street value of the fentanyl to almost $254,000.
The affidavit said the package first popped up to law enforcement on Nov. 20, when Homeland Security Investigation personnel became aware of a package with a Shanghai, China, return address that was addressed to someone in Youngstown. The address matched another return address that other packages with heroin came from that were being delivered to Seattle, Detroit and New York City.