Man arrested after he tried to mail cocaine from New Kensington to California, police say

A man was arrested when, police say, he tried to mail about 2 pounds of cocaine to California from the New Kensington post office.

Jonathan Ray Booher, 33, was arraigned Friday before New Kensington District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr. on charges filed by the Office of Attorney General of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, criminal attempt to delivery of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance.

Booher was being held in the Westmoreland County jail on a $50,000 bond, according to court records.

In court paperwork, authorities gave addresses on Constitution Boulevard in Arnold and Ridge Avenue in New Kensington for Booher’s residence.

On April 3, U.S. postal inspectors intercepted a suspicious package postmarked to be delivered to a woman in Van Nuys, Calif., a criminal complaint states.

The parcel was found to contain 1 kilogram of cocaine, which is about 2.2 pounds. That much cocaine is worth about $48,000, according to state police estimates.

Video surveillance footage from the post office showed Booher walking up to the postal desk with a shipping label in hand along with the parcel, the complaint states. He is seen completing the shipping label on the parcel and turning it over to be shipped.

On April 7, agents and officers seized multiple trash bags from the alley beside Booher’s Ridge Avenue residence, the complaint states. The same shipping label as on the shipped parcel and small plastic baggies with cocaine residue were found in one of the trash bags.

Booher is scheduled for a preliminary hearing before Pallone on May 30.