Teddy bears stuffed with cocaine lead to 3 arrests
Cocaine was mailed from Puerto Rico to Jacksonville, investigators say
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Cocaine-stuffed teddy bears that were mailed from Puerto Rico to Jacksonville led to the arrests of three men, authorities said.
Edgar Ortiz Lopez, 28, Yaddiel Ortiz Lopez, 24, and Cassidy Martinez-Iglesias, 28, are charged with trafficking in cocaine and conspiring with another to traffic cocaine. Martinez-Iglesias also faces four counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
The arrests were announced by Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Director of Investigations Mike Bruno at a news conference Thursday afternoon.
In January, Bruno said, JSO was alerted in January by postal inspectors of a suspicious package heading to an apartment complex on Mayport Road. Bruno said it turned out to contain a teddy bear filled with 2 kilograms of cocaine and an electronic tracker.
Jacksonville police engineered breaking up a cocaine enterprise that utilized teddy bears to conceal the drugs coming in from Puerto Rico, according to the Sheriff s Office.
Director Mike Bruno called it an example of the extreme measures people go through to smuggle drugs into Jacksonville as he announced the arrest of three men Thursday. There was a total of 5 kilos of cocaine, more than $130,000 in cash, and we seized a BMW automobile and four firearms, Bruno said.
Cassidy Eduard Martinez-Iglesias, 28, of Met Court faces four charges of possession of firearms, plus trafficking in cocaine and conspiracy to do so, according to his arrest report. Yaddiel Jesus Ortiz Lopez, 24, Mayport Road and brother Edgar Ortiz Lopez, 28, of Lochlaurel Drive were both charged with trafficking in cocaine and conspiracy to do so, according to their arrest reports.