California Couple Arrested Using Drone To Deliver Drugs, Police Say

A California couple was arrested after using a drone to transport drugs out of their home and into the hands of nearby waiting customers, police say.

Benjamin Baldassarre, 39, and Ashley Carroll, 31, of Riverside, California, were arrested on several charges including possession of controlled substances, conspiracy to commit a crime and child endangerment. Riverside police were investigating a potential drug house in the area when they witnessed a drone carrying small packages flying overhead.

The drone was going back and forth from a nearby yard and then hovering over a parking lot at East Hills Church, KCBS-TV reports. The small packages were dropped down to waiting customers in the parking lot who would then drive by the couple’s home and throw money into their lawn as payment.

“It was constant, I’m talking 50 cars a day,” neighbor Cassandra McDowell told CBS. “It was huge, I don’t know what’s going on, but I can’t stand it.”

On Dec. 21, police raided the couple’s home and found several hypodermic syringes, methamphetamines, LSD-laced candles, fentanyl-containing powder and the drone seen transporting the suspected drug packages.

Also in the home was Baldassarre’s 9-year-old daughter, who had a “vape pen” containing marijuana in her bedroom.

“She (my daughter) was afraid, she didn’t know what to say,” Jaclyn Baldassarre told the local CBS affiliate. “And that was her dad, you know, what do you say against your dad.”

Carroll pleaded not guilty at her Tuesday arraignment in Riverside County Superior Court and Baldassarre will be arraigned today.