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YOUNGSTOWN -- A 42-year-old Youngstown man made an initial appearance in federal court Thursday, facing a charge of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.
The case involves a package mailed from Florida to an East Side address that was intercepted by a postal inspector. Its contents later tested positive for 6.82 pounds of cocaine, according to a federal affidavit.
Luis Parrilla, who had a Lane Avenue address, was in U.S. Northern Ohio District Court before Magistrate Carl Henderson, who ordered him to remain in federal custody without bond.
A detention hearing is set for Tuesday in federal court.
Parrilla was arrested Wednesday after he was questioned by federal authorities at a home in the 300 block of Pearl Street on the East Side, after which Parrilla was placed in the Mahoning County jail.
According to a federal affidavit, postal inspectors -- after getting the positive field test -- replaced the original contents with rock salt and a global tracking device as an undercover agent on Wednesday watched the King Street address to which the parcel was addressed.
At 2:18 p.m. Wednesday, an undercover agent observed a red Ford pickup park in front of the delivery address, with a man getting out of the passenger side. This man walked to the front porch and grabbed the parcel.
Authorities followed the truck to the nearby Pearl Street address where about 10 minutes later, the man in the truck was observed giving the parcel to someone in a black Acura. The affidavit indicated the person in the Acura suspected being followed because he was making multiple turns.
The car returned to the South Pearl Street home a few minutes later, and pulled into a empty grass lot west of the home. Law enforcement officials, according to the affidavit, witnessed Parrilla exit the driver's side of the Acura and run toward the woods, then headed back to the home.
The authorities arrested Parrilla as he walked back to the front porch.
Authorities later recovered the fake contents of the parcel along with the GPS in the woods, the affidavit states, but they did not find the parcel.
In the interview with Parrilla, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent stated, the man began to get angry after saying he didn't know about a parcel -- and said he didn't know why he was being asked about a mail package.
After a search of Parrilla's hands, the affidavit states, it was discovered that he had opened the parcel.