A record number of packages were mailed to or from Colorado with marijuana inside in 2017, according to data obtained by Denver7 Investigates through the Freedom of Information Act.
In 2017, 934 packages were discovered by the United States Postal Inspection Service containing marijuana. The packages were mailed to or from Colorado.
That number is up significantly from the 805 packages found in 2016.
Since 2012, the number of packages with marijuana inside has increased, and is up significantly from 2014, when recreational marijuana was legalized under Colorado state law.
YEAR – NUMBER
2012 – 234
2013 – 365
2014 – 410
2015 – 542
2016 – 805
2017 – 934
The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Thursday that Mark Herbert Koenig, 36, of Arvada, was sentenced to one year and a day in federal prison for possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute.
In a news release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Koenig pleaded guilty to mailing packages containing marijuana inside on four occasions.
“U.S. Postal Inspectors seized each package after a drug dog alerted to it,” the release said.
“U.S. Postal Inspectors continue to aggressively target individuals who use the postal service to distribute controlled substances,” Dana Carter, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Denver Division, said in the release. “Our efforts to protect the nation’s mail, and postal customers, from illegal drug shipments are highlighted in cases such as these, where repeat offenders are sent to federal prison.”
A federal judge sentenced Stephen Paul Anderson, 27, of Arvada, to a year in prison last year after postal inspectors and law enforcement officers with the West Metro Drug Task Force caught him mailing 30 packages containing marijuana out of state.
