Norfolk mail carrier charged with taking bribes to divert drug packages
A Norfolk mail carrier was arrested this week and charged with diverting packages filled with marijuana to a drug dealer in exchange for bribes, according to court documents.
Gary Kent Turner Jr. was charged with one count of bribery of a public official, according to a criminal complaint filed last week in U.S. District Court in Norfolk. The crime carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
Turner was arrested Monday and released on a personal recognizance bond. His attorney, James Broccoletti, declined to comment on the charges.
Beginning in May 2019, investigators with the United States Postal Service and the Office of the Inspector General noticed numerous suspected drug packages were being sent to addresses on Turner’s delivery route, which includes the Ghent area of Norfolk, according to an affidavit filed by one of the investigators.
Hidden cameras were later installed in Turner’s postal vehicle, and footage from a surveillance camera at an apartment building parking garage at 201 W. 21st St. — the first stop on Turner’s route — also was obtained.
From November 2019 to May 2020, Turner was seen in the footage meeting about 15 times with a man identified in court documents as M.C. from Portsmouth, the affidavit said. The meetings took place at the garage and other locations along Turner’s route.
Each time, Turner is seen giving one or more packages to M.C., who then gave Turner a white envelope filled with cash, the affidavit said. Turner often is recorded counting the money afterward, then putting it in his pocket.
Investigators seized one package destined for Turner’s route in May 2020 and found 3½ pounds of marijuana, the affidavit said. They arrested M.C. a few weeks later and found three pounds of marijuana in a package he just received from Turner. They also discovered a .380-caliber pistol and almost $12,000 in cash in a backpack in his vehicle.
Investigators later confronted Turner, who admitted to being paid to deliver the packages, but claimed he only received “a few dollars to buy himself a meal,” the affidavit said. Turner was suspended immediately, according to the document.
A confidential source told investigators Turner was paid $100 for each package and made between $2,000 to $3,000 a month from the deliveries, the affidavit said.
The packages were sent from addresses in Los Angeles and Santa Ana, California, and usually were addressed to places in the 1300 block of Redgate or the 2600 block of Granby Street. Both blocks consist of small businesses. Most packages were never scanned as delivered.
When investigators checked the addresses on the packages, they found one did not exist, and one was being renovated. The owners of the other businesses either knew nothing about the packages or couldn’t be located.
Investigators also found numerous incoming and outgoing calls between Turner and M.C. from July 2019 to March 2020. The calls typically were placed right before or after Turner delivered packages to M.C., the affidavit said.
Jane Harper, 757-222-5097, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
