More than $300,000 in cocaine seized in Erie probe that included arrest at upscale hotel

The 6 kilograms of cocaine, worth about $240,000 on the street, arrived in Erie via FedEx in May.

The delivery quickly led police to the upscale Marriott hotel on Erie's bayfront, where investigators said they searched a guest room and found another 2 kilograms of cocaine — worth another $80,000 on the street — as well as 1.5 kilograms of fentanyl and a Glock handgun.

The person who authorities said was staying in the room is now in the Erie County Prison, awaiting prosecution on federal drug-trafficking charges. A conviction could keep him incarcerated for the rest of his life.

The defendant, Montez L. Freeland, believed to be from Georgia, was arrested at the Courtyard by Marriott Erie Bayfront Hotel in May. His case became public late last week, when the charging documents and other filings were unsealed in U.S. District Court in Erie.

Investigators in the documents allege that Freeland made the plans to receive the cocaine-filled FedEx package and other parcels in Erie as part of a drug-trafficking operation.

After police searched the hotel room and found the other 2 kilograms of cocaine and the fentanyl, "Freeland admitted to arranging for the retrieval of the parcels and possessing them with the intention of distributing the narcotics both locally in Erie and in Pittsburgh," according to the affidavit of probable cause attached to the criminal complaint.

Investigators also found Freeland with a Glock .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol, .45-caliber ammunition and $47,361 in cash, according to court records. The U.S. Attorney's Office is a seeking forfeiture of the cash, the Glock and the ammunition as part of the case.

The street value in Erie of 1 kilogram of cocaine is about $40,000, according to evidence presented in other drug cases in federal court in Erie. Dealers typically purchase the kilograms for less than that amount and sell the cocaine on the street for higher amounts, reaching the per-kilogram street value of $40,000.

The 1.5 kilograms of fentanyl that was seized has a street value in Erie of a little less than $75,000, according to evidence presented in other Erie federal drug cases.

The amount of cocaine police said is involved in Freeland's case totals about 17.6 pounds. The amount of fentanyl totals about 3.3 pounds.

Defendant in drug case faces mandatory minimum sentence if convicted

The court records in Freeland's case, unsealed on Thursday, show that Freeland is in the Erie County Prison but list no residential address for him. The records show that Freeland has a prior conviction in Fulton County, Georgia, which includes Atlanta, and other public records show that Freeland lived in Atlanta at one time.

Freeland is accused of four felonies in the Erie case, according to court records. They are attempted possession with intent to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine, possession with intent to deliver 1 kilogram or more of heroin and fentanyl and 500 grams or more of cocaine, possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking offense.

Freeland has been in prison since his initial appearance in federal court in Erie on May 9. He has stayed at the prison after waiving his right to a detention hearing before Chief U.S. Magistrate Richard A. Lanzillo on May 22, according to court records.

U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter is assigned the case for pretrial and trial matters. Freeland has not yet entered a plea, according to cout records. On Friday, Baxter's chambers scheduled a plea hearing for Jan. 16.

Freeland faces a mandatory minimum sentence of at least 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life if he is convicted of the count related to the 5 or more kilograms alone, according to court records filed on Friday.

Package takes police to East 23rd Street, and the Marriott

The case against Freeland unfolded quickly, according to court records. The FedEx package was the key piece of evidence.

On May 6, drug investigators with the Pennsylvania State Police "discovered a suspicious package" at the FedEx shipping facility in Erie County, according to the affidavit of probable cause attached to Freeland's criminal complaint.

A drug-detecting dog alerted on the package, leading state police to get a search warrant for it, according to the affidavit. It states that police opened the package on May 6 and found 6 kilograms of cocaine, "tightly wrapped and vacuumed sealed."

The investigators replaced the cocaine in the package with what the affidavit refers to as "sham" material. The investigators then had the parcel sent to its listed delivery address on May 8. The address was for a two-unit apartment house in the 300 block of East 23rd Street, between German and Parade streets in Erie, according to the affidavit.

An undercover state police trooper posing as a FedEx employee dropped off the package on the porch of the apartment house at around 10:35 a.m. on May 8 after no one answered the door, according to the affidavit. Investigators surveilled the porch, in person and electronically, after the undercover trooper left.

Shortly before 2 p.m. on May 8, a woman left her apartment in the flat, picked up the package and went back inside, according to the affidavit. Moments later, it states, the woman sat on the porch and used her cellphone.

Several minutes later, a black Mercedes SUV with Georgia plates drove by the house, according to the affidavit. It states that the SUV stopped, and that the driver, a man, got out and he and the woman went into her apartment. The man left the apartment with the FedEx package and got back in the SUV, according to the affidavit.

From there, according to the affidavit, investigators followed the SUV to the Marriott on Erie's bayfront, where rooms can cost upward of $341 a night. The SUV pulled up to the hotel's entrance at about 2:35 p.m. on May 8. A man, later identified as Freeland, left the hotel's main lobby with a luggage cart, retrieved the FedEx package from the SUV and started to go back inside, according to the affidavit.

Investigators went into the hotel, arrested Freeland and read him his rights, according to the affidavit. It states that Freeland consented to a search of his guest room at the hotel.

During the search, according to affidavit, police found the 2 kilograms of cocaine, the 1.5 kilograms of fentanyl, the Glock and the ammunition and the tens of thousands of dollars in cash. The money, according to the affidavit, was vacuum-sealed inside a parcel similar to the package that state police intercepted earlier that day.

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Suspicious parcel leads to big drug bust at Erie’s bayfront Marriott