Mailmen know, rain, sleet or snow, they must deliver. But one Portland, Ore. mailman took the delivery vow a little too far. How far? Far enough to get the DEA’s attention.
KGW-TV OnlinePORTLAND, Ore. — A citizens complaint has led a pot-dealing postman from package delivery to prison time.
Ronald Berkan, a 48-year-old postman in Veronia, Ore., was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in prison, following his guilty plea last April on one charge of marijuana distribution to a person under 21 years old.
The delivery occurred on his mail route in the Cedar Mill area of Washington County. As part of the sentence, almost $3,000 of drug proceeds Berkan had collected was also forfeited.
The legal investigation began in 2006 when federal authorities received a citizens complaint that a uniformed postal carrier was offering marijuana for sale on his route. Berkan was identified by the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General. Drug Enforcement Administration officials subsequently joined in an investigation that lasted 11 months,according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.
