The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is continuing its inquiry into the drug-related delivery of two suspicious packages to campus this week.
Junior Ryan Packer was arrested and charged Tuesday with intent to sell and deliver marijuana and with drug trafficking, after 17 pounds of marijuana were delivered to his campus address in Craven Quadrangle. Another student allegedly involved was not charged.
University officials said the second student was not found to have probable cause to be charged for a drug-related incident.
Packer appeared in Durham County District Court Wednesday, and is scheduled to reappear at a trial June 7, a criminal division representative said. Packer was released from jail Tuesday after posting $5,000 bond.
A drug-sniffing dog was used to determine that the package delivered to Packer contained the narcotic before police obtained a search warrant, The Durham Herald-Sun reported.
A second package-addressed to a student in Kilgo Quadrangle and with the same return address as Packer's-was seized in Arizona by Phoenix police, said a representative of DHL, the delivery company the package was sent through.
Both packages had a return address from Colormark Custom Photo Imaging in Phoenix. They were both shipped March 29 and scheduled for delivery April 2, according to DHL tracking reports. DHL records also described the contents of Packer's 24-pound package-which contained the 17 pounds of drugs-as business cards and described the contents of the second student's 32-pound package as photos.
Colormark Custom Photo Imaging specializes in photography and printing and had no record of either Packer's or the other student's order, employees said. Colormark only uses UPS for shipments-not DHL-company representatives said. Employees also said they had not been contacted by authorities investigating the packages.
Duke University Police Department officers contacted Duke Postal Operations Friday regarding the situation, said Mike Trogdon, director of Postal Operations. "They wanted me to clarify how packages are delivered to students," Trogdon said. "DHL packages-and UPS or FedEx-are delivered to students directly by the vendor."
A Kilgo resident said he saw a man wearing a DHL uniform shirt enter Kilgo Tuesday morning carrying a package approximately three feet long.
He said the deliveryman appeared approximately half an hour later holding the DHL shirt and package and leading a female in handcuffs. They drove away in an unmarked SUV.
DUPD Executive Officer Sara-Jane Raines said she was unable to comment on the case because SBI had taken over the ongoing investigation.
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