The arrest of two suspects in a marijuana delivery scheme has lifted suspicion from the mayor of Berwyn Heights, whose house was raided by a Prince George’s County SWAT team that killed his family pets, but there was no apology forthcoming.
Police officials said Wednesday that the FedEx delivery of 32 pounds of marijuana to Mayor Cheye Calvo, which prompted officers to burst through his front door and shoot his two Labrador retrievers, was likely an accident.
A delivery man and an associate are believed by police to be part of a scheme to smuggle 417 pounds of marijuana by shipping packages to unsuspecting recipients, including the one that sat unopened in Calvo’s house as Prince George’s County sheriffs barged in without a proper warrant.
Police Chief Melvin High said the Calvos were “likely” innocent as he noted police have discovered five or six similar deliveries in recent days to people who had no idea what was arriving on their doorsteps.
The names of the men arrested were not released, but High described one of the men as an independent contractor.
Police investigating the case, High said, uncovered a separate scheme that used package delivery to ship the marijuana and arrested two other men Wednesday in connection to the conspiracy. They seized an additional 100 pounds of marijuana from them.
When the sheriff’s SWAT team broke down Calvo’s door, it originally claimed to have a “no knock” warrant, which is typically granted when a judge believes knocking would endanger officers or give a suspect time to destroy evidence.
But the warrant indicates that police neither sought nor received permission to enter without knocking from Prince George’s County Circuit Judge Albert W. Northrup.
