http://www.kswo.com/story/32405546/drug-raid-leads-to-arrest
MARLOW, OK (KSWO) - A man from Marlow is out on bond Friday night after officials from the Homeland Security Department intercepted a package addressed to him that contained illegal drugs.
32-year old Morgan Whitecotton was arrested Thursday afternoon at his home in Marlow. The Stephens County Sheriff's Department worked alongside Marlow Police and the District Attorney's Task Force, going undercover to monitor Whitecotton coming and going to and from the residence. Authorities found more drugs in the home including LSD, marijuana, cocaine and items commonly used for drug distribution.
The Department of Homeland Security got involved after customs found a suspicious package entering the country from the Netherlands on July 3. After investigating, they found it contained a drug called MDMA, which is also known as molly, or ecstasy, and it was addressed to Morgan Whitecotton in Marlow. They called local authorities on Wednesday, and that's when their investigation began.
Undercover investigators monitored Whitecotton's home and then executed a controlled delivery of the package, and waited for Whitecotton to pick it up. Once Whitecotton was seen taking the package inside, law enforcement was able to issue a search warrant. Sheriff Wayne McKinney of Stephens County says Whitecotton lives near a school as well, and he is happy to get Whitecotton off the streets.
"His home was within 2,000 feet of a school," McKinney said, "which makes it even worse. You know, where our young children are going to school. You've got people in and out of this neighborhood, which is a very nice neighborhood in Marlow, in and out of this neighborhood dealing drugs. I'm glad we were able to get it off our streets and get that individual responsible for that in jail where he belongs."
Sheriff McKinney says they are beginning to see a lot more hard drugs around the community, and he's happy to have caught Whitecotton before he was able to distribute his latest shipment.
"I'm pleased that we were able to do it," McKinney said. "No one got hurt, which is the number one goal. But this individual, we were certain that he was trafficking or selling some of these drugs."
Authorities said when they went inside the residence, Whitecotton admitted that the package was his, and that he had purchased it online from overseas. He admitted to having done this about half a dozen times in the past several months. Sheriff McKinney says he was very cooperative, and did not seem shocked.
"He wasn't totally surprised," McKinney said. "Anybody that is committing crimes, I know in the back of their minds, they have to be wondering one of these days there is going to be a law enforcement officer waiting on me."
Authorities confiscated a capsule making machine, and numerous items used to distribute drugs, as well as syringes, liquid steroids, and marijuana pipes.
Whitecotton's bond was set at $100,000, and he bonded out shortly after his arraignment. His next court appearance is set for late August.
[MDMA] lands marlow man in jail
Another report about the same incident from Charlene Belew, a journalist who gave some decent details and asked good questions and handily re-reported the ignorant claims of Sheriff Wayne McKinney about MDMA:
A Marlow man received more than just an ordinary package on July 5. The package, which came from the Netherlands, contained synthetic methamphetamine and led to the execution of a search warrant and thus an arrest from Stephens County Sheriffs deputies.
County law enforcement received news of the package from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Customs division. From there, deputies, the Criminal Apprehension Unit, Marlow Police Department and the Sixth Judicial District Attorney Drug Task Force worked together to play the part of mailman, deliver the package and arrest Morgan Whitecotton.
Stephens County Sheriff Wayne McKinney said the drug found inside the package - known as "methylenedioxy methamphetamine" or "MDMA" - is a synthetic type of meth that he hasn't spotted in Stephens County before.
McKinney said the sting operation came about after Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Customs division contacted the department with information on the package and what it contained.
**"On July 5, we were contacted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, specifically the U.S. Customs division of the Department of Homeland Security. They told us that they had intercepted a package coming from the Netherlands that was destined to an address in Marlow," McKinney said. "They asked us if we would take the lead on doing a controlled delivery to that house and make the arrest. We agreed. They sent two of their agents from U.S. Customs here. They briefed us on it, they turned the package over to us, signed it over to us, which contained the drugs."
According to McKinney, agents with U.S. Customs found something suspicious about the package as it made its way into the country. They then removed the package and took it to a safe location to open it. Inside they found the controlled substance, confirmed it as drugs through testing, weighed it, repackaged it and followed it through the mail system to Oklahoma.
McKinney said sending it through the mail to Oklahoma was intentional. It made it look like the package hadn't been tampered with during the mailing process and stamps verified its authenticity.**
From there, it was all about timing.
"We put the home under surveillance to develop a timeframe of when the individual was coming and going from his residence," McKinney said. "We placed the package there at his house, at his front door like the mailman would do, watched as he came home and picked the package up and took it in his house. As soon as he did that, we executed the search warrant and made an arrest."
Receiving international meth wasn't the only thing Whitecotton got busted for. McKinney said they found plenty of other drugs and paraphernalia inside the residence on the 1000 block of Choctaw.
"In the house we found ... LSD, we found what we call mushrooms, we found cocaine, we found marijuana, a lot of paraphernalia, which to include scales, small plastic baggies where they can cut it and package it for sale, everything that goes with the trafficking and dealing of narcotics," McKinney said.
A total weight amount collected inside the house wasn't available yet, McKinney said, but inside the package alone was more than 30 grams of MDMA.
During an interview, McKinney stated Whitecotton admitted this wasn't the first time he's received drugs via U.S. mail.
"It just makes you wonder how much doesn't get intercepted through the mail because this guy said this wasn't his first time he'd done it," McKinney said.
Whitecotton received charges on trafficking in MDMA, 30 grams or more, within 2,000 feet of a school, possession of LSD, possession of psychedelic mushrooms, possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Whitecotton had arraignment Friday and receive a bond of $100,000 from Special District Judge Jerry Herberger because he had no prior criminal history.
"MDMA a new type of synthetic meth" LMAO