Mayor's home raided in pot-smuggling probe

UPPER MARLBORO, Md., Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Police say they have arrested three men in a smuggling scheme that included shipping a 32-pound package of marijuana to a Washington, D.C.-area mayor's wife.

A SWAT team and county narcotics officers raided the home of Berwyn Heights, Md., Mayor Cheye Calvo and wife Trinity Tomsic July 29 after intercepting the package, which was addressed to her.

During the raid, officers fatally shot the family's two black Labrador retrievers, police said.

Calvo's attorney Timothy Maloney said officers also tied up the mayor and his mother-in-law.

Police Chief Melvin High and Sheriff Michael Jackson told the Washington Post the raid was conducted responsibly, given what police knew at the time.

High added that Tomsic was "most likely" an unsuspecting recipient, "but we don't want to draw that definite conclusion at the moment."

Calvo insisted he and his family were innocent. Maloney said the arrests confirmed Tomsic was a "random victim of identity theft at the hands of major drug traffickers."

The package was one of about a half-dozen authorities retrieved in the past week along the route of a deliveryman in northern Prince George's County, police said.

The packages contained a combined 417 pounds of marijuana valued at about $3.6 million, police said.