Florida drug dealer mails himself 18 pounds of meth. Return address got him caught, feds say

A convicted Florida drug dealer will spend the next 10 years in prison after making a silly mistake while mailing himself 18 pounds of meth, officials said.

Jason Ryan Hardy of Tarpon Springs was visiting California in 2020 when he came up with the idea of using a package delivery service to transport drugs, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.

The plan might have worked, had Hardy given more thought to the return address.

“On June 19, 2020, package delivery employees in California reported receiving a suspicious package,” officials said. “Despite being shipped from California, the sender’s address and the return address on the package were both based out of Florida.”

“The sender’s address was later confirmed to be Hardy’s and Hardy was listed as the person to return the package to if the package could not be delivered,” officials said.

It didn’t take long for law enforcement to find the 18 pounds of methamphetamine, officials said.

Two days later, Hardy made another mistake.

“Hardy called to inquire about the status of the package,” officials said. “He identified himself by his first name and provided his true phone number and e-mail address.”

The two-year case came to an end on Monday, Dec. 12, when U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington sentenced Hardy to 10 years and 10 months in prison. He pleaded guilty to “conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine,” federal officials said.

“This criminal was stopped from smuggling large amounts of deadly drugs into our communities,” Micah McCombs of Homeland Security Investigations said in the news release. “Special agents, working with our partners ... have certainly saved lives.”

This story was originally published December 13, 2022 at 4:31 AM with the headline "Florida drug dealer mails himself 18 pounds of meth. Return address got him caught, feds say."