Authorities raid Old Hickory home of man accused of moving drugs through US mail

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Last week, law enforcement raided an Old Hickory home and seized pounds of drugs shipped through the mail as part of a a joint operation led by the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), the Fairview Police Department, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI).

It all began with narcotics officers getting a tip about mushrooms and marijuana being moved through the mail.

Williamson County investigators contacted USPS, who flagged an address and watched for packages coming under a fake name. Then, a drug detection dog alerted to a package that contained narcotics. As a result, authorities did a controlled delivery and obtained a search warrant for the home.

On Thursday, July 25, law enforcement moved in and executed that search warrant at the Old Hickory address. Body camera footage shows shows authorities armed with assault weapons.

“The sheriff’s office with a search warrant! Come to the door!” a deputy ordered.

Drug agents entered the Old Hickory home and searched it, leading to the seizure of a pound of marijuana, a pound of psilocybin mushrooms, two firearms, close to $2,000 in cash, and multiple shipping labels from previous deliveries.

“It’s just not a big deal to them to put it in the mail and ship it. All they need is a fake name, a fake address, and deliver the package and, I mean, it’s totally undetected unless you’ve got somebody that’s on their A game in the postal service that’s watching for those suspicious packages,” a law enforcement officer explained.

According to Williamson County officials, the prime suspect in the Old Hickory case was a 20-year-old man. This suspect allegedly moved large quantities of narcotics through the U.S. mail, typically shipping it from out west to his Old Hickory home under a fake name.

“It was evident he hasn’t had a job in several years, and that was the income for him,” a drug agent said.

“So he hasn’t had a job, he had lots of cash, he’s certainly not paying taxes — is that accurate?” News 2’s Andy Cordan asked.

“Absolutely,” the agent replied.

According to investigators, drug dealers are effectively bringing unknown quantities of narcotics into Middle Tennessee through the mail because, as some suspects have said, it’s easy.

“We interviewed a kid yesterday, totally unrelated to this [case], and he just flat out told us he’s been getting all his stuff through the mail, and I said, ‘You mean the U.S. Postal Service?’ He said, ‘Yep,'” the drug agent recalled, adding that this individual admitted he has shipped hundreds of pounds of drugs over the years.

While law enforcement seized the contraband in this operation, as well as the suspect’s vehicle, the main suspect has not been arrested yet. Authorities said charges are pending as this investigation intensifies

“We’ve got friends in every county that touches us, and we’re not afraid to use those friends. We’ve got friends with TBI, and we’ll fly under any banner we need to to get back to the source, so if you want to come to Williamson County and deliver that stuff, play at your own risk because we’ll come to Nashville or wherever we need to go to come and get you,” the agent said.

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U.S. Postal Inspector Nathaniel Sims of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service issued the following statement to News 2 on Thursday, Aug. 1.

The postal service has no interest in being the unwitting accomplice to anyone using the U.S. mail to distribute illegal drugs.

Winning the battle against illicit drugs is a top priority for the postal service and the United States Postal Inspection Service.

To achieve that goal, postal inspectors proactively seek to identify (and remove or seize) illegal drug shipments in the mail.

I’m sure you can understand that the investigative methods used by postal inspectors are sensitive and must remain confidential, but they are effective in helping to locate drug shipments of all kinds. In 2021, postal inspectors investigating the shipment of illegal drugs by mail initiated 2,311 cases, made 2,110 arrests, and obtained 1,949 convictions.

Though I’m not able to release information about ongoing investigations, I’d suggest the enforcement action involved in your inquiry illustrates the effectiveness of the work of postal inspectors and their law enforcement partners in removing illegal drugs from the mail stream and identifying those who use the mail to send or receive illegal drugs.

No additional details have been released about this incident.

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