ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 12, 1997 TAG: 9703120080
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS
UPS took the 14 pounds of dope to the wrong address. Police sent it on to the right place and made 2 arrests.
Imagine the surprise of a woman who opened a parcel delivered to her address by mistake and found 14 pounds of marijuana.
But imagine the surprise of the proper addressees when the package finally showed up at their door, followed closely by police.
The woman to whom the United Parcel Service first delivered the package took the contents promptly to police. Authorities refused to identify the first recipient.
Officers decided that the package, mailed from Los Angeles, should proceed to its intended address and sent it on its way, said police spokesman Pete Edgette.
The box arrived Saturday at the home of Demeatrice Langford, 20, and Marvin Shaw, 21. The next knock on the door, less than a minute later, came from officers who arrested both men.
``Once the men were in receipt of the package and therefore in possession of the marijuana, we arrested them,'' Edgette said.
Shaw and Langford were charged with transporting marijuana and possession of marijuana with intent to deliver.
Commonwealth's Attorney Howard Gwynn, who will likely prosecute the case, said the officers' actions could not be perceived as entrapment because they did not induce the men to commit the crime.
``Entrapment is a situation when a person doesn't have any inclination to commit a crime and the inclination is provided by the police,'' he said. ``If the police simply intercept the package and deliver it to you, it was still your original inclination.''
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
LENGTH: Short : 42 linesby CNB