CENTRALIA, IL — The Marion County Court case charging a 32-year-old Centralia man with distribution of methamphetamine has been continued as sentencing in a federal case against him was delayed in county court Wednesday.
Carlos Scott was initially arrested July 1, 2020, on a Class X felony charge of distribution of between 100 and 400 grams of meth.
According to the Centralia Police Department, investigators acting on drug intelligence information intercepted a package destined for Scott’s home in Centralia.
Investigators found the package consisted of one exterior cardboard box, one interior box depicting a television and inside a television with a broken screen that pulled back a revealed nearly 3,700 grams of meth.
Investigators removed most of the drugs leaving just 157 grams of meth inside.
Investigators then, with the assistance of the U.S. Postal Inspectors office, equipped the package with an electronic remote alarm device that would indicate if the package was open.
Authorities said at the time that it was the largest drug seizure the history of the area with a street value of about $750,000.
After the alarm went off, police executed a search warrant of the home.
The man inside tried to escape, but police found him hiding in a neighbor’s doghouse and he was arrested. A few weeks after his capture, Scott posted $30,000 cash bail and was released.
However, almost a year later, he was indicted in federal court on one count possession with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of meth.
Scott pleaded guilty in March of this year to that federal charge but sentencing was delayed last week after Scott filed a motion objecting to portions of the pre-sentencing investigation report.
Sentencing on the federal case is now scheduled for August 9 in East St. Louis and in Marion County Court the next hearing is scheduled for September 7.
Scott was one of a large group of people arrested in 2009 in the Centralia area in a local and federal law enforcement operation targeting the distribution of crack cocaine.
He was ultimately sentenced in that case to 240 months in prison and 10 years parole.