A Pentagon contractor and drag queen was arrested on drug charges for attempting to smuggle ecstasy, Viagra, and other substances onto a all-gay cruise ship in Miami, according to police.
Peter Melendez, 35, and Peter Koehler, 27, were arrested Sunday after a drug-sniffing dog called Bill unearthed 246 grams of the date-rape drug GHB, 27 grams of ecstasy, 18 grams of ketamine, seven grams of Viagra, and five grams of Adderall in their luggage, the arrest affidavit stated.
Melendez’s LinkedIn profile identifies him as a Pentagon contractor and Navy veteran who is a senior budget analyst for JMark Services Inc. He was charged with conspiracy to traffic in illegal drugs and trafficking in illegal drugs.
On his Facebook page, Melendez describes himself as a “jack of all trades” at the Pentagon for the past nine years. Friends have said he was the winner of the Miss Adams Morgan drag contest in 2016 or 2017.
Lane Hudson, a Washington D.C. gay activist, told the Washington Blade: “I’ve known Peter for seven to eight years and he’s always been a wonderful member of our community. He is loving, caring, well-liked and one heck of a drag queen. I hope he comes out of the other side of this in a good way. He certainly wasn’t out to harm anyone.”
JMark Services Inc. did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
Koehler, whose LinkedIn profile identifies him as a news production specialist at the Associated Press, was charged with trafficking illegal drugs. The pair are listed in charging documents as living together in a Washington D.C. house owned by Melendez.
The Allure of the Seas cruise ship can hold 5,400 passengers and has over 2,300 crew. It set off on Sunday — without Melendez or Koehler on board — for a seven-day Atlantis party cruise, with stops in the Bahamas, Mexico and Honduras. The trip is promoted as the world’s largest all-gay cruise.
Authorities tracked down Melendez and Koehler because the pair exchanged emails on Melendez’s work account about smuggling the drugs and selling them on the cruise, according to the Miami-Dade Police Department. Both men confessed to carrying the drugs when questioned by police.
Their emails were intercepted by a Homeland Security special agent, who said the men were seeking “to smuggle the narcotics into the ship and distribute it once on board the ship.” Federal agents informed police of the men’s plans and they were subsequently arrested at PortMiami by Miami-Dade police working a Homeland Security detail.
Although the two men were originally held without bond in Miami and were not to be released, Melendez was discharged on Monday on a $7,500 bond and Koehler on a $30,000 bond. They are due to be arraigned next month.
The drug bust comes a little more than a year after Discovery Channel’s “Storm Chasers” star Joel Taylor died from a drug overdose while on an Atlantis cruise. Separately, a passenger on an Atlantis cruise in 2011 was also arrested for having drugs, including ecstasy and ketamine, and over $50,000 in cash.
Hudson said: “It’s important for people to know that the circuit scene is tight knit, looks after one another, cares for each other and simply chooses to party in a different way than the drinking crowd.
“It would be nice if the law allowed for this, but for now, it doesn’t. That means that situations like this sometimes occur.”
