Colorado man’s attempt to mail marijuana leads to one-year sentence

Over the last five years, the number of packages found with marijuana inside has increased drastically.

Our partners Denver7 produced the following numbers:

YEAR NUMBER

Prosecutors say a Colorado man has been sentenced to one year and a day in federal prison after investigators found 123 marijuana plants at his home.

According to a statement issued Thursday by U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer’s office, investigators searched Mark Koenig’s home in Arvada after finding that he had mailed three packages in 2015 and one package in 2016 containing marijuana.

Troyer’s office says drug-detecting dogs alerted U.S. Postal Inspectors to each package and they seized between 950 grams and 1.6 kilograms of marijuana from each package. Investigators then searched Koenig’s home in January 2016 and found the plants.

Troyer’s office says Koenig pleaded guilty to possession of a federally controlled substance with intent to distribute in October. He was sentenced on Jan. 25.

2012 234

2013 365

2014 410

2015 542

2016 805

2017 934

“U.S. Postal Inspectors continue to aggressively target individuals who use the postal service to distribute controlled substances,” Dana Carter, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Denver Division, said in a news release. “Our efforts to protect the nation’s mail, and postal customers, from illegal drug shipments are highlighted in cases such as these, where repeat offenders are sent to federal prison.”