53-year-old Theodore Garlow has been sentenced to five years in prison for possessing with the intent to distribute more than 400 grams of fentanyl using the United States Postal Service, according to a press release from the United States Attorney’s Office.
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration states, “Two milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal depending on a person’s body size, tolerance, and past usage.”
In 2021, Garlow was employed by the United States Postal Service (USPS) as a Rural Carrier at the Lehigh Acres Post Office.
In September 2021, the USPS Office of Inspector General (OIG) received information about five suspicious packages that were heading to Garlow’s home address in Lehigh Acres.
Garlow sent a text to the postal carrier assigned to deliver the packages to his home asking about the five parcels.
The postal carrier informed Garlow that he did not have the parcels, which led Garlow to go to the Lehigh Acres Post Office and search the building for the packages himself.
In October 2021, special agents from USPS OIG arrived at Garlow’s home with the five packages.
He agreed to speak with agents and admitted to going to the post office to find out why they had not been delivered.
Garlow consented to the search of the parcels, which contained pills he said he believed to be tramadol.
The release states he informed agents that he had received a text from an unknown number asking if he wanted to make more money. Garlow agreed because he needed to pay his mortgage and bills.
He stated that he had been communicating with the person for four months. He had been instructed to open a P.O. Box and a box at the UPS Store.
After following the directions of the text messages, Garlow gave the person his home address and the addresses of the boxes.
Upon the arrival of 10 to 15 parcels, Garlow counted and separated what he thought was tramadol, Percocet, hydrocodone, oxycodone, and another pill for sleep into baggies.
Using a spreadsheet with names and home addresses that were provided, Garlow printed out shipping labels and sent the packages.
Garlow provided eight crates of pills and 19 USPS envelopes to agents. He told investigators he was paid based on the number of pills being shipped.
Garlow had mailed more than 200 parcels/envelopes.
A forensic analysis of the pills revealed that most of them were fentanyl.
A lab analysis also showed that the pills manufacturer’s markings, shape, and color, should have been hydrocodone, oxycodone, or oxycodone hydrochloride manufactured by a specific company, but was fentanyl instead.