Michigan man sentenced to 30 years for using postal service to mail cocaine
A Michigan man will spend more than 30 years in prison for reportedly using the U.S. Postal Service to traffic cocaine from Texas to Michigan.
Srecko Darnell Walker, 35, of Muskegon, was sentenced to 32 years in prison. Walker was convicted in a federal trial on charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, distribution of cocaine and possession with intent to distribute cocaine in November 2024.
According to federal prosecutors, between 2021 and 2022, Walker worked with Steven Rasic, a Muskegon-based U.S. Postal Service mail carrier, to traffic cocaine into Michigan from Hugo Benavides, a Texas-based cocaine supplier. Walker is accused of coordinating the shipments and having them sent to vacant addresses on Rasic's mail route.
Law enforcement officers seized five kilograms of cocaine from the mail that Walker and his co-conspirators allegedly intended to sell in West Michigan.
In March 2022, investigators seized an additional two kilograms of cocaine. After the package was seized, prosecutors say Rasic attempted to recover the parcel and falsely claimed he was acting on behalf of the U.S. Postal Service. Prosecutors say Rasic texted Walker to notify him of the cocaine being seized.
In October 2022, investigators reportedly saw Walker sell cocaine to a woman in Muskegon and found cocaine, a cutting agent and a digital scale in Walker's home.
After a search of his home, prosecutors say Walker admitted to importing cocaine through the mail and tracking some of the mail that contained cocaine, including one piece of mail that had more than one kilogram of cocaine inside.
"As the law enforcement arm of the U.S. Postal Service, the Postal Inspection Service prioritizes the safety and security of postal employees and customers above all else," said Detroit Division Acting Inspector in Charge Sean McStravick. "Let the severity of this sentence be a warning to those who abuse the nation's mail system to transport narcotics and other dangerous or illegal substances: We will find you, we will arrest you, and we will seek to prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law."
The United States Postal Inspection Service, the United States Postal Service Office of the Inspector General, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Michigan State Police West Michigan Enforcement Team investigated the case.
Rasic and Benavides pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge before trial and were sentenced separately.
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