The four packages were deemed suspicious, so the FedEx security team took a look.
Inside were thousands of grams of marijuana and a concentrated extract of the drug, worth more than $450,000, authorities said.
“FedEx does not tolerate the use of its network for illegal purposes,” a company spokesperson said.
That discovery in March began to unravel what police in Prince William County allege was an illegal drug manufacturing and distribution operation based out of a Woodbridge smoke shop called Rat Pack Clubhouse.
Authorities said the FedEx packages were each marked with the same name: Wilquins Charleston, the clubhouse’s owner. Police said that Charleston and another man have been charged with drug offenses. His attorney, Joshua Wilson, declined to comment.
Charleston’s arrest came the day after Virginia’s legislature, with the support of Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D), voted to establish a legal marketplace for selling recreational marijuana. The state legalized possession of marijuana five years ago, and Spanberger said the “safe, legal, and well-regulated” marketplace set to launch next July will be paired with clear enforcement targeting illegal sales.
“Until we stand up the regulated marketplace, the illicit market will fill the void. That’s what we see today,” said Del. Paul E. Krizek (D-Fairfax), a leading supporter of the effort.
Medical cannabis can already be bought at licensed facilities in the state. Rat Pack Clubhouse was not a licensed dispensary, according to police.
Once FedEx flagged its discovery to Virginia State Police, the multiagency Rat Pack investigation took off. Police also said anonymous complaints had sparked their interest.
A traffic stop by the North Carolina State Highway Patrol in May marked a key breakthrough.
Two men in a Honda Odyssey were pulled over for speeding on Interstate 85 in Durham County, a highway patrol spokesperson said. The minivan was carrying 272 pounds of marijuana, he said.
Then a Toyota Camry that had been traveling with the Odyssey intentionally collided with the trooper’s car, the spokesperson said.
The Camry’s driver was arrested and charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon on a government official. The men in the Odyssey were each charged with felony marijuana trafficking. Their lawyers declined to comment or could not be reached.
All three men involved in the North Carolina incident are from Woodbridge, Virginia, and had been heading south from Rat Pack Clubhouse, authorities said.
Police said as part of their investigation, they searched five locations in Alexandria and Woodbridge.
When police arrived at one of them July 3, they found a shotgun, more than five kilos of cocaine, cash, scales, packaging materials and other drugs in a bedroom used by Jacob Tyler Wiley, 28, according to court records. Wiley’s attorney could not be reached for comment.
The investigation ultimately netted thousands of grams of marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms, and substantial amounts of THC oil, wax and other cannabis derivatives. Authorities also seized more than 1,600 THC gummies and 2,400 pre-rolled joints, three vehicles and three firearms, they said.
Police allege many of those products were manufactured at Rat Pack Clubhouse, which also has an attached porch, outdoor seating, a fire pit, red lights wrapped around the roof and green ones forming a marijuana leaf.
Charleston, 50, was arrested on June 23 and charged with conspiracy to distribute marijuana.
Wiley was arrested on July 3 and faces an intent to distribute narcotics and a firearms charge, police said.
Comments on the smoke shop’s Instagram page show people’s fondness for the place.
One commenter said they were “so hurt” by the news.
“Not many like rat pack …” added another.
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