A California man was arrested after his flight landed at Orlando International Airport over the weekend and authorities discovered about 38 pounds of methamphetamine and four pounds of marijuana in his suitcase, according to a federal criminal complaint.
Michael Jayson Scarlett, 43, faces charges of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.
According to an affidavit, Scarlett was nabbed when agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation used a drug-sniffing dog to screen luggage Sunday on inbound flights from areas with known drug trafficking activity.
About 6:40 a.m., the dog alerted on a light gray suitcase with Scarlett’s name on the luggage tag. Scarlett had flown in on a United Airlines flight from Los Angeles International Airport, the affidavit said.
Confronted by agents, Scarlett claimed he was visiting Orlando “while looking for work,” the affidavit said. However, agents said once in custody Scarlett admitted “he knew he messed up, and... was in a lot of trouble.”
Scarlett claimed a man he knew as “Chewy” had paid him $500 to take the suitcase to Orlando, the affidavit said. Scarlett also confessed he’d done so twice before for the same payment, agents said.
According to the affidavit, Scarlett went on to describe past interactions with Chewy and his associates, including having seen Chewy moving pounds of meth into and out of a Central Florida storage unit a couple of weeks earlier.
On Scarlett’s phone, agents said they found text messages between Scarlett and Chewy, which revealed that Scarlett’s alleged employer was present at the airport on Sunday watching for law enforcement and giving him directions on how to evade capture.
In the texts, Scarlett told Chewy he’d seen a man in a blue hat lurking near baggage claim. Chewy told Scarlett to try grabbing someone else’s bag to see if the man reacted, according to the affidavit.
“If clear pretend to grab [the] wrong bag first then grab [yours],” Chewy said.
“Yeah I’ll test,” Scarlett replied.
As of Tuesday, Scarlett was being held at the Orange County Jail ahead of a detention hearing later this week. It was unclear in court records whether agents had identified or arrested the man he knew as Chewy.
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