HART COUNTY, GA (WSPA) – Hart County Sheriff’s Office officials arrested a man on a drug trafficking charge and seized approximately 47 pounds of methamphetamine allegedly intended to be distributed within Northeast Georgia.
According to a sheriff’s office news release, a shipping courier delivering a package mailed from Mexico discovered that the package contained approximately 47 pounds of methamphetamine hidden in candles.
The package was reportedly addressed to a “Mike Lopez” in Bowersville, Ga.
The courier called the sheriff’s office and arranged for a controlled delivery of the package to the destination in Hart County.
According to the release, the sheriff’s office, the Drug Enforcement Agency, Immigration and Custom Enforcement and the District Attorney’s Office coordinated to obtain a search warrant for the location.
The courier transferred possession of the methamphetamine to the DEA, who used a mockup delivery truck to take the drug to the intended recipient.
When they arrived at the scene, the people in the home denied that a “Mike Lopez” lived at the address.
Deputies then conducted a search of the home and found other empty packages also addressed to “Mike Lopez.”
The occupants identified Arturo Rabiela Gonzalez as the person who owned the empty packages.
According to the release, the occupants called Gonzalez at the request of law enforcement and he directed them to take the delivery of the package on his behalf.
“This joint effort between agencies, and the advice and strategy provided by the District Attorney Parks White, prevented a massive amount of this terribly addictive substance from ending up on the streets of our communities,” Hart County Sheriff Mike Cleveland said.
