CENTRALIA — Bail has been set at $500,000 dollars for a 31-year-old Centralia man arrested last week as part of what Centralia police are calling the largest drug seizure in the history of the area.

Carlos Scott has been charged in Marion County Court with Class X felony distribution of between 100 and 400 grams of methamphetamine.

According to a Monday, July 6, press release from Centralia Police Chief Greg Dodson, during the week of June 28th through July 3rd the Centralia Police Department conducted a drug interdiction investigation executing five search warrants resulting in what to their knowledge is the largest drug seizure in the history of the Centralia Police Department as well as the Marion and Clinton county area.

Investigators acting on drug intelligence information determined that three separate shipments of a suspicious nature were scheduled to arrive in Centralia over the course of three separate days.

On June 29th officers intercepted the first package and a police K-9 unit from the Clinton County Sheriff’s Department assisted and gave a positive alert for the presence of drugs.

A search warrant for the package was obtained and search of the package revealed what appeared to be a factory packaged television set. Upon closer inspection, it was found that all the internal parts of the television had been removed and a large quantity of drugs was hidden inside of the reassembled television.

Investigators removed most of the drugs only leaving a small quantity inside. Investigators then, with the assistance of the U.S. Postal Inspectors office, equipped the package with an electronic remote alarm device that would indicate if the package was open.

The Centralia Police Department then obtained an anticipatory warrant and a detective from the Centralia Police department then delivered the package disguised as a delivery driver. The package was delivered to an address in the 900 block of E. Broadway and shortly after being delivered the alarm indicated the package had been opened.

The Centralia Police Department HRT team then executed a search warrant of the residence. The residence was occupied by a single male subject who attempted to flee the residence as the HRT team entered the house and was found hiding in a dog house in the yard next door to his residence.

Carlos L. Scott was taken into custody and charged with Possession with Intent to Deliver and Controlled Substance Trafficking. Scott was taken to the Marion County Jail on the charges.

The Centralia Police Department then intercepted an identically packaged shipment on June 29th with another search warrant being executed by the Centralia Police Department HRT Team. It was determined that this shipment was being delivered to the address of Carlos Scott’s grandmother, where Scott sometimes stays.

On July 3rd the Centralia Police department intercepted a third shipment of drugs to a separate address that was once again packaged identically to the other shipments. All three shipments originated from the Southwest United States from the same location and are believed to have come directly from the drug cartels in that area.

In total, the Centralia Police Department seized 13.2 Pounds of Methamphetamine and 2.5 pounds of Cocaine, ¼ pound of Heroin, 287 Ecstasy Tablets, two bottles of THC oil, 166 grams of Cannabis, and almost $25,000 in cash. This Drug Seizure is the largest in department history.

During the course of this investigation, the Centralia Police Department was assisted by and want to thank all of the agencies that were involved in making this arrest and seizure.  The Clinton County Sheriff’s Department, the U.S. Postal Inspectors Office, Agents from the D.E.A. and Illinois State Police.

The Centralia Police Department is now providing all of the reports and information gathered in the investigation to the U. S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Illinois and hopes to have all charges moved to Federal court.