HUNTINGTON W.Va. – A formal postal employee who participated in a scheme to distribute marijuana mailed from California to Huntington over a period of several years was sentenced to federal prison, announced United States Attorney Mike Stuart. Michael Mason Morton, 55, was sentenced to six months in federal prison after previously entering a guilty plea to distribution of marijuana.

“Morton abused his position as a letter carrier with the United States Postal Service,” said United States Attorney Mike Stuart. “He was a drug dealer in a postal uniform with a delivery route. The team of law enforcement personnel that worked this case did an outstanding job and put an end to this marijuana distribution scheme.”

On March 15, 2018, agents located two parcels at the Huntington Post Office which had been mailed from the State of California to Huntington and were found to contain marijuana. Agents conducting surveillance observed Morton, a letter carrier with the United State Postal Service at the time, load the parcels into a postal delivery truck and drive to the Dollar General store located in the 800 block of Norway Avenue in Huntington. At that location, Morton provided the marijuana to another individual who arrived in a separate vehicle. A trooper with the West Virginia State Police subsequently conducted a traffic stop of the vehicle and recovered the parcels which contained approximately 16 pounds of marijuana.

The United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the West Virginia State Police – Violent Crime and Drug Task Force West, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Barboursville Police Department, conducted the investigation. United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers imposed the sentence. Assistant United States Attorney Joseph F. Adams handled the prosecution.