A warrant has been issued for the arrest of a Schuylkill County man who has allegedly been receiving shipments of cocaine from Puerto Rico to his home in Tamaqua.
Last week, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office Bureau of Narcotics Investigation and Drug Control filed charges against Jose Lebron, 44, of Tamaqua. He’s being charged with felony counts of possession with intent to deliver, conspiracy to commit possession with intent to deliver, criminal use of a communication facility and a misdemeanor count of possession of a controlled substance.
On May 15 last year, authorities say the US Postal Inspector Services Narcotics Parcel Interdiction Unit identified a pack at the Lehigh Valley postal sorting facility that had indicators it contained narcotics. The package had been sent from Puerto Rico and was intended for an apartment on Cedar St. in Tamaqua.
K9 officer Bane was brought in and alerted human officers to the presence of drugs in the package.
After securing a federal search warrant, police say they discovered the package intended for Lebron in Tamaqua contained 1 kilo (about 2.2 pounds) of cocaine.
On May 20, the package – which contained a sample of the cocaine originally intended for Lebron – was delivered to Lebron’s apartment by use of an undercover agent posing as a delivery person.
About two minutes after the package was delivered to his apartment, Lebron allegedly came outside and took possession of it. He went back inside his apartment only to emerge about 90 minutes later and get into the passenger side of a Land Rover with an Alabama registration. Lebron was carrying a black and gray backpack at the time he got into the Land Rover, authorities say.
Tamaqua Police then conducted a traffic stop on the Land Rover. Both Lebron and the driver – identified as Fernando Luis Gonzalez Ruiz (aka “Tato”) – were taken into custody.
Back at the station, Lebron allegedly agreed to speak with police. He reportedly said he’d been working for Tato for about three or four months. For every package he received, Tato would reportedly pay Lebron $500 and 20 grams of cocaine. Lebron said he’s received six packages and Tato notified him when they’re on the way.
Once Lebron got the packages, he allegedly placed them in a bag for Tato to collect.
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