Sending marijuana through the U.S. mail is illegal — but so is stealing U.S. mail packages filled with marijuana and reselling it on your own.
Two former clerks at a West Berkeley post office, Gloria E. Navarro and Jessica K. Pardo-Alvarez, and a third alleged co-conspirator, Norman Beltran, are accused of doing just that. They were charged with mail theft and conspiracy in a federal indictment on July 25.
The plot began at least as far back as September 2021 and lasted until around May 2022, according to court records.
According to the indictment, Navarro and Pardo-Alvarez would pick out packages they believed to contain marijuana, steal them from Station A Berkeley on San Pablo Avenue and work with Beltran to sell it.
Throughout the alleged scheme, the former Postal Service employees stole at least 18 packages en route to destinations all over the country, most frequently to Florida, according to the indictment.