[Updated 5:15 p.m.] Police Charge Two in Mail-Order Marijuana Case

(Updated 5:15 p.m. Monday)
New technology has made it possible to receive almost anything by mail, but two local residents found out the hard way last week that it’s still not legal to receive marijuana through the postal service.

Officers arrested two Southington men late last week after undercover detectives acting as part of an investigation witnessed the two pick up a package containing 12 pounds of marijuana with a street value of between $12,000 and $24,000.

The arrest in part of an ongoing investigation conducted with partnership from U.S. Postal Service investigators and a local police department in a different state, detectives said Tuesday. The name of the second police department has not been released as the case remains active.

“Members of the narcotics unit developed information that the package was going to be delivered to ,” Southington Police Sgt. Lowell DePalma said Tuesday. “They conducted surveillance from the time the package arrived until the two men came out to collect their delivery.”

Police said Jordan Vitelli, 20, and Anthony Dalia, 21, were each involved in the collection of the marijuana, which arrived in Thursday. Both were taken into custody without incident after detectives approached the men, police said.

Vitelli, of 255 Mill St. in Southington, was arraigned in Bristol Superior Court last week on possession of over four ounces of marijuana, sale of an illegal drug, conspiracy charges to each and possession of marijuana within 1,500 feet of an elementary school.

He was released after posting a $100,000 bond, according to court officials, and is due back in court on Dec. 23.

Dalia, of 24 Gannett St. in Southington, was released after posting a $10,000 bond and is due in Bristol Superior Court on Monday, Dec. 19, for arraignment. He is facing possession of more than four ounces of marijuana, possession of one kilogram of marijuana, conspiracy to commit both and possession of marijuana within a school zone.

Police said the two became the target of an investigation after officers learned that a shipment of marijuana was coming by mail during a previous investigation in town, police said.

Further details of the case were not released Tuesday as the case remains open. Police did not identify where the package came from.