When a woman living in west of Boca Raton smelled marijuana coming from the three packages addressed to her 31-year-old son, she called him, saying she was going to call police. What she didn’t know is investigators were already tracking the packages and her son, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
Brandon Hansel
Brandon Hansel faces one charge of trafficking marijuana and is being held without bail at the Palm Beach County Jail because he refused to make his first appearance in court Thursday. He’s expected back in court this morning.
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On Tuesday, a police dog detected an odor coming from five packages that averaged about 50 pounds each. Once investigators obtained a search warrant, they found marijuana in each of the boxes, according to the report. Three of the boxes were addressed to Hansel, deputies said.
On Wednesday afternoon, authorities delivered the packages to the home on the 8100 block of Cedar Hollow Lane, just west of Florida’s Turnpike and south of west Palmetto Park Road. After leaving the packages at the door, Hansel’s mother was seen bringing the packages inside, the sheriff’s office said. The woman later told investigators she called her son to ask about the packages and he told her to take them inside. But when she noticed the stench of marijuana coming from the packages, she told her son she was calling police.
Soon after their conversation, Hansel and two other men arrived at the home, deputies said. Hansel ran inside the home and took the boxes, placing them in a white Chevrolet Camaro parked outside. At that time, investigators approached the three men and one of them ran. The sheriff’s office said there was 79 pounds of marijuana taken from the boxes.
Hansel was arrested but it’s unclear if the other unidentified man was charged. The third man was never found, according to the report.
Authorities revealed they had been investigating Hansel since March, but did not disclose any further details.
Hansel has been arrested several times on drug charges and was released from prison in April 2015 after serving less than a year for a drug conviction, according to Florida Department of Corrections records.
