Police confiscated a pot-stuffed teddy bear delivered to OC toy store Toy Town on December 22. 3-lbs of marijuana filled the two-foot tall bear, a plush blue toy which apparently missed its final Christmas destination.
A Mission Viejo toy store received a surprise pot package addressed to a Mr. David Lang in Colorado, the package instead received by Toy Town in the infamous "OC." But there's no TV show here. And this is definitely reality, no question. Orange County, California, made Christmas news this year, obviously intended to be the gift that keeps on giving. And the preparing elves must be the happiest of Santa's crew yet.
Stuffed with pounds of marijuana and sent via Overnight Delivery, Toy Town owner Joshua Vecchione called Orange County law enforcement and police when he realized he was holding onto a plush drug lord. When all other forms of transport fail, think smart and substitute a bear. After all, who'd want to prosecute a blue stuffed animal.
The crinkly sound and firm demeanor tipped off the toy store owner that the bear in his possession just might not be the average bear.
Turns out that sweet teddy bear possessed innards of three big, nicely vacuum-sealed, packages of pot. And we can trust Vecchione, it seems, since he's an expert: "I know my plush, because I'm a toy guy. I know what it's supposed to squish like, but it was hard and crinkly," he recalled. He also doesn't sell blue teddy bears, so he knew the contraband bear wasn't purchased at Toy Town."
Employee Eli Pavione said he felt something inside the bear, with his finger, that felt like plastic. "I said, 'The only thing I know that somebody stuffs in plastic bags is coke or pot,'" Pavoni recounted. Guess heroine got skipped on that one. And we won't ask how Pavoni is familiar with the cocaine and marijuana options he listed. "Because why would you send a kid a bear and stuff gifts in it and then sew it back in?" he said. Pavione seems to be one astute employee.
But perhaps not as astute even as the Toy Town owner. Vecchione said, "I just had a gut feeling that it felt wrong." He must really know his plush, to realize a bear with rock-hard abs is not the norm.
"When the police got here, they took a knife to the bear in the back room. And, sure enough, there was three big bags of pot," explained Pavoni. After slicing the toy bear open to discover its marijuana innards, Orange County police hauled the drug-trafficking culprit away.
Apparently the vacuum-sealing was the clincher, helping that marijuana fit into two feet of bear instead of six. A six-foot bear would have seemed suspicious, of course, unduly drawing attention. Two feet was apparently intended to keep the bear and its contents low-profile.
Must have been one hell of a vacuum-seal with no one being able to smell three pounds of marijuana. Ziploc might do well to find out who's manufacturing those plastic sacks.
The pot-bearing bear had been addressed to a Colorado recipient, originally mailed from Thousand Oaks, California, and listing the Ladera Ranch toy store as only a return address. Seems that package didn't want to leave California. The pot-filled bear was delivered to the return address, instead of to the Colorado residence listed as recipient. Law enforcement says the package may not have been bound for Colorado at all, but they aren't talking, citing an ongoing investigation. The bear isn't talking either.
Law enforcement visited Toy Town where it confiscated the marijuana- trafficking teddy bear, apparently taken into custody without incident.
The toy store's return address and package delivery to its physical location, of course, casts suspicion on employees. Though it logically seems a smart local, aware of the toy store, might also be of suspicion. After all, who would question a customer simply shopping for a last-minute Christmas present for a niece or nephew. That'd be one smart cookie. Caught, and all the customer would have to claim is that there was absolutely no knowledge of any contents.
Addressed to cross state lines, package contents now involve a criminal interstate charge involving not only local police and law enforcement but also the FBI. Colorado street rates for the drug-filled bear put its marijuana valuation at about $2500. Considering the interstate criminal charges it carries, the pot's true owners may also be considering crossing state lines at this point.