The case of Yusef Carter, charged with unlawful possession of controlled substance has been bound over to High Court.
At a preliminary examination in District Court, lead investigator Detective John Seumanutafa related that on October 13th they were notified by customs of a package found at the Post Office containing what appeared and later confirmed to be methamphetamine.
According to the detective’s testimony, customs officers and Post Office employees described the defendant who came to pick up the package as being nervous and anxious.
A field test of the substance found in the package was positive for ice.
Carter was then taken to the central police station for questioning.
Detective Seumanutafa said the defendant claimed that he did not know the name that was on the package but he was expecting a package from his father.
The officer said the package in which the controlled substance was found “ was a package within a package and was from Victorville, California”
Prosecutor Jerard Murphy said that the package contained 1.2 ounces of meth and was tested positive by local certified officers.
He said, “Even though the name on the unusual package was not Carter’s but a “Valulu”, the defendant still insisted on having the package go through the normal procedure.”
The prosecutor said the defendant intended to take possession of the package. And his insistence that it go through the security check was a normal tact for smugglers.
The prosecutor said the defendant knew an Amazon package was coming even though the name listed as the receiver was not his.
Assistant Public Defender Karen Shelley focused on the package being searched without a warrant.
She said her client didn’t ever claim his property, “it was seized by the police officers.”
But District Court Judge Fiti Sunia found there was probable cause to support the charge.
Sunia said, “The mailbox is owned by the defendant … he owns the key to that specific mailbox , not to mention that the defendant purposely returned to retrieve the package the next day after he picked up the yellow slip from his mailbox the night before.
Carter’s case was bound over to the High Court and his arraignment is tomorrow
