Four men were arrested after they allegedly smuggled thousands of grams of cocaine inside Xbox video game consoles.
Felix Josue Rodriguez-Pabon, 22, Nelson Audelin Martinez, 26, Wilson Michael Herrera, 20, and Yefries Guillen Herrera, 22, all of Reading, Pa., are charged with delivery of a controlled substance and other related offenses.
On Wednesday, officials with Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Customs and the Border Protection Office of Philadelphia contacted the Berks County Drug Task Force about kilos of cocaine being smuggled from the Dominican Republic to various addresses in Berks County.
According to investigators, one of the shipments described as “Video Game Xbox 360 Use” was sent to a home on the 500 block of Spruce Street in Reading, Pennsylvania. The shipment was an Xbox video game console containing around 1100 grams of cocaine with a potential street value of over $100,000, police said.
On Friday, around 2 p.m., investigators spotted several men on the 500 block of Spruce who they believed were waiting for the package. The suspects were identified as Rodriguez-Pabon, Martinez, Wilson Herrera and Yefries Herrera.
An undercover federal agent then delivered the package to Yefries Herrera around 3:30 p.m., according to police. Herrera allegedly accepted and signed for the parcel before going back inside the home.
Ten minutes later, Herrera allegedly left the home, carrying a bag containing the Xbox game console and walked over to another house on Spruce Street where he met the three other suspects. He then placed the bag into the open trunk of a black Acura and closed it, according to investigators. Officials followed the vehicle as it left the area.
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The car arrived at a home on the 1600 block of Hancock Boulevard in Cumru Township, Pennsylvania. Once police arrived, three of the suspects allegedly fled the home on foot. Officials eventually apprehended them and took them into custody, according to police.
After obtaining search warrants for the homes on Spruce Street and Hancock Boulevard, police obtained the following items, according to investigators:
- 1100 grams of cocaine with the potential street value in excess of $100,000
- Representative kilogram substitute containing a testable quantity of cocaine
- Miscellaneous x-box game console and parts.
- Miscellaneous documents pertaining to the defendants
- Miscellaneous packaging material related to cocaine
- Heat sealer machine
- Additional miscellaneous x-box components and shipping packaging
- Cutting agent related to cocaine.
- Five counter-surveillance cameras
- Over fourteen cellular telephones
- Box of .40 caliber ammunition and loaded gun magazine
- Digital scale
- Plastic bag containing "crack" cocaine
- Approx. $600.00 in U.S. Currency
Investigators also said they found Xbox gaming consoles on the kitchen table inside the Cumru Township home which had been disassembled.
The four suspects were processed and arraigned at the Berks County Sheriff’s Department Central Processing Center Saturday.
Officials continue to investigate.
