Two NE men snared
in Delco pot bust

Two Jamaican men claiming to share a house in the Northeast were arrested in Delaware County on July 17 for transporting more than $1 million worth of marijuana that had been shipped to the Philadelphia area from Texas.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett on July 22 identified the suspects as Loverture McCarthy, 36, and Courtenay Garrick, 35, both of the 1500 block of Hellerman St. in Castor Gardens.
In a news release, Corbett identified McCarthy as an illegal alien and a "high-level marijuana dealer in Houston who traffics drugs from Mexico into Texas for redistribution across the country."
Agents from the attorney general’s office, along with suburban police, arrested both men after stopping their rented truck in Folcroft at about 10:30 a.m. In the back of the truck, authorities say, was a box containing six bales of the drug, totaling 221 pounds, along with two large duffel bags.
Investigators had earlier identified the box as suspicious when a drug detection dog "hit" on the package in a nearby commercial freight warehouse. McCarthy and Garrick allegedly arrived within minutes of the discovery and used assumed names to claim the box.
According to a criminal complaint against the suspects, McCarthy was to pay Garrick to rent the truck, drive it to the freight warehouse, then drive it to a predetermined drop-off point.
The arrests were part of a 14-month-long investigation into marijuana trafficking between Texas and Philadelphia.
On June 26, the same investigation resulted in the discovery and confiscation of a similar shipment of about 253 pounds of marijuana, Corbett said. No charges have been filed in connection with that drug seizure, but agents are investigating possible links with McCarthy and Garrick.
McCarthy and Garrick have been charged with drug trafficking and conspiracy and are held in Delaware County Prison in lieu of $750,000 bail. ••