Atlanta man charged in state police probe of shipment of suspected cocaine into Erie
Authorities investigating the shipment of suspected cocaine found in a guitar speaker bound for Erie followed the package on Monday to a bayfront hotel, where investigators said they found more suspected drugs and cash in a room.
One person authorities spoke to in the investigation said the drugs, which included suspected fentanyl, were intended for distribution in Erie and to people in Pittsburgh, according to information in the criminal complaint of a Georgia man charged in the case.
Carl D. Duncan, 44, of Atlanta, is facing felony counts of possession with intent to deliver and criminal conspiracy in an investigation conducted by the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Duncan was arraigned on the charges on Tuesday morning and remained in the Erie County Prison Thursday on $100,000 bond.
Investigators accuse Duncan of taking possession on Monday afternoon of a FedEX parcel which authorities had flagged and searched on Saturday, and was found to contain six "bricks" of suspected cocaine that was hidden in a guitar speaker. Authorities replaced the suspected cocaine with "sham" material and did an undercover delivery to an address in the 300 block of East 23rd Street in Erie on Monday, according to information in Duncan's criminal complaint.
More: Prosecutors seek 2nd-degree murder convictions in 2022 fatal shooting at Erie rental house
Authorities wrote that a female placed the package inside a residence before a black Mercedes sport utility vehicle arrived in the neighborhood and a male exited it and walked with the female to the residence. The male left the residence a short time later with the parcel and drove off, according to information in the complaint.
Investigators followed the SUV to a hotel on Sassafras Pier, where they said another man removed the parcel from the SUV and began to enter the hotel. Authorities stopped the SUV as it was leaving the hotel and identified the occupant as Duncan, investigators wrote in the complaint.
Investigators wrote that they encountered the person who retrieved the parcel from the SUV inside the hotel and were given consent to search one of the hotel rooms. During the search investigators found two more kilos of suspected cocaine, 1.5 kilos of suspected fentanyl, cash that was vacuum-sealed and a gun, according to information in the complaint.
Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Atlanta man charged in probe of suspected cocaine shipped into Erie PA
