SF Police Make Drug Bust Through Package

by Jill Johnson
December 07, 2012 3:58 PM


Sioux Falls Police have made yet another drug bust. This time it came about through a suspicious package found at a post office.

It all began when a package was sent to a P.O. box at the downtown post office in Sioux Falls.

Officer Sam Clemens said, "Our Drug Task Force recieved some information from a postal inspector. There was some packages that I guess had an alert from the canine and he ended up calling the Drug Task Force."

Inside the package, police found a white powdery substance called methaqualone. It's a synthetic drug but some mix the substance with marijuana to smoke as well.

Clemens said, "Inside that package there were two bags. One bag was 27 grams, the other bag was 17.2 grams."

So they waited and two women eventually arrived. One was 28-year-old Charity Cook. The other 33-year-old Brandy Gardner.

"The P.O. Box is for Cook. She ended up getting a blue slip which indicated she had a package and needed to be picked up at the front desk. She took that blue slip and gave that to Gardner who actually went inside and signed for that package," said Clemens.

When they arrived at around 3 p.m., police arrested them. They found nearly 340 g of synthetic marijuana in Cook's purse and pipe in her car with meth residue on it. Then they served a warrant at Cook's house at 903 S. 10th Avenue where Gardner was also staying.

Clemens said, "Inside the house they ended up finding a small amount of meth and some other paraphernalia that had some residue on it."

A small amount of meth and $3,900 in cash inside. All stemming from one suspicious package.

Both Cook and Gardner were arrested on two counts of possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a certian substance for purposes of intoxication.

Police couldn't tell us where the package came from.