Long Island police say the duo was trafficking cocaine and fentanyl across the country by shipping the drugs through the postal service, Pei-Sze Cheng reports.
A former DJ for Sirius XM was sentenced for his role in a million-dollar cocaine and fentanyl trafficking scheme that involved a U.S. Postal Service worker, according to a Long Island district attorney.
Lance Holmes, also known by his on-air name of DJ Love Dinero, was sentenced Tuesday to eight years in prison after he pleaded guilty in March to charges including operating as a major trafficker, attempted possession of a controlled substance and conspiracy.
According to prosecutors, Holmes played a major role in moving kilos of cocaine and fentanyl in a drug ring that stretched from the West Coast to Long Island, which was disguised by exploiting the USPS with the help of a mail carrier.
"Together with mail carrier Adrianna Lewis, Holmes mailed the drugs to the addresses of unsuspecting homeowners where Lewis then intercepted the packages and provided them to Holmes for a price," said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly.
In March 2021, numerous search warrants and arrests were carried out by agents with the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in connection to Operation Honeycomb, which resulted in 40 indictments for allegedly selling narcotics in the Hempstead area, according to Donnelly.
From that investigation, it was found that cocaine and fentanyl originating in Southern California was being sent via USPS to New York — and the addresses in Nassau County were along the route of mail carrier Lewis, who works out of Hempstead.
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Holmes and Lewis would meet in various spots along the route to transfer the drugs, according to the investigation. Video provided by the Nassau County District Attorney’s office showed Holmes walking into a random apartment building to grab a package of drugs, which were left by Lewis. Those whose Hempstead addresses were used were not involved in the scheme.
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Lewis would get $500 for each successful delivery.
Each of the packages weighed the same amount and were shipped using priority mail in medium flat-rate postal boxes, the investigation found. All came from shipping stores in California. Several of the packages en route to Hempstead were intercepted by law enforcement, with sniff tests conducted by K9 units coming back positive for drugs, according to the DA's office.
The DA estimates at least 27 kg of cocaine and fentanyl were sent through priority mail boxes from California to Nassau County from Oct. 2021 to Jan. 2022.
In June 2022, Holmes contacted the post office about a package containing two kilograms of cocaine that was heading to a Manhattan address, but was intercepted, the DA's office said. In all, 10 kilograms of cocaine and a kilogram of fentanyl — an estimated $1 million worth of drugs — were seized as part of the investigation.
The 33-year-old Lewis pleaded guilty in Dec. 2023 to second-degree criminal facilitation and was sentenced to five years of probation.
