Suspected drug courier in ‘fair’ condition at Dayton hospital

A man federally indicted for having more than 100 grams in heroin in his digestive system while flying from San Diego to Dayton was checked into Grandview Medical Center for his own safety, according to a criminal complaint and affidavit.

A body scan of Shane Michael Anthony allegedly showed he had“dozens” of suspected heroin pellets in his body, according to a report written by a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency special agent.

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“Since the revelations from the scan, Anthony has remained hospitalized at Grandview for his own safety given that heroin pellets may rupture inside of him,” DEA special agent Steven Lucas wrote Oct. 22 in a criminal complaint filed in Dayton’s. U.S. District Court.

“After the scan, Anthony has passed at least 23 pellets from his system. One of the pellets was field tested, and it contained heroin. “It is estimated that Anthony still has multiple pellets still within his body.”

On Thursday, Anthony was in “fair” condition, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

The complaint said that DEA agents in San Diego interviewed Anthony on Sept. 23 after he returned from Dayton. An agent said Anthony’s tickets were booked from a Mexican phone number that had been in contact with a “known drug dealer” in the Dayton area who was observed to use drug couriers.

Anthony said he was from Pennsylvania but living in Tijuana, Mexico, and that he had travelled to Dayton to visit family, according to the affidavit.

The complaint stated that Anthony had rubber gloves that agents say are often used to handle pellets after they’ve been expelled. Lucas wrote that Anthony had a receipt from a hotel on Miller Lane, which Lucas termed a “known drug trafficking area.”

On Oct. 21, Anthony arrived in Dayton from San Diego on a flight booked by a person in Uruapan, Mexico, Lucas wrote. The agent said Anthony left the terminal with only a backpack, talked on a cell phone, used the restroom and then left the airport by taxi.

Law enforcement officials stopped the taxi for a moving violation and interviewed Anthony, who said all his identification except his birth certificate had been stolen, Lucas wrote.

The affidavit said a drug-sniffing dog alerted to narcotics and Anthony’s backpack contained only a suspected “burner phone,” one change of clothes, toiletries, wet wipes and Anthony’s birth certificate.

Lucas wrote Anthony denied being drug smuggler and said the baby wipes were for hemorrhoids. A search warrant was obtained to scan Anthony’s body.

Court documents indicate Anthony’s case is related to other federal suspected drug courier cases, including a case in which five people were charged and three women allegedly stuffed heroin into their vaginas.

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