‘I chose a bad thing.’ Pasco High grad admits getting paid for mailed drug shipments

A Pasco High graduate was living in his truck and estranged from his family when he agreed to get paid to have drugs mailed to him.

For more than three months, Christian Espindola collected the packages sent to a Pasco post office box in his name.

It’s not clear from court documents what he did with the drugs or how much he was paid.

But the teen’s short-lived involvement in drug trafficking was discovered in late June 2020 when a U.S. Postal Service inspector flagged two packages as suspicious.

In one, they found nearly five pounds of marijuana, packaged as 1 gram pre-rolled joints inside glass containers. The other held about 1 ounce of cocaine, along with 100 fentanyl-laced pain pills identified as “Mexi-blues.”

“I was just looking at the benefit of my pocket instead of (looking) at other people and how they suffer. It’s not good,” said Espindola, who’s now in treatment for his addiction to “weed.”

“I’m extremely sorry for what I did. ... Most of the time I was under the influence of drugs. … I shouldn’t have done that because there’s other things to do.”

‘Disappointed in choices’

Espindola, who turns 20 later this month, was indicted in federal court for using the postal system to move drugs. He pleaded guilty in November.

Last week, while facing a judge in Richland’s U.S. District Court, Espindola said he didn’t used to think he had a problem with marijuana and denied needing treatment.

Now, with direction from his counselor, Espindola said he is working on plans to start a small business.

“I would like to say I’m disappointed in the choices I made in the past. We all have choices — we can do this or that — and I chose a bad thing,” he said. “We cannot change the past. We can only change the future.”

Espindola faced up to 1 1/2 years behind bars for the crime based on his lack of criminal history and other factors.

However, Judge Sal Mendoza Jr. opted to follow the recommendation of both prosecutors and the defense, and sentenced Espindola to five years of probation.

Court documents in the case show that a Spokane-based agent with the Postal Inspection Service was doing an electronic review of mail parcels on June 26 for characteristics consistent with drug trafficking when he saw Espindola’s two packages.

The packages were from California and Arizona.

He learned the packages were going to a P.O. box that had been rented three months earlier by Espindola and another man.

The agent retrieved the packages in Pasco and Spokane, and got search warrants to open them.

After removing the drugs, he repackaged them with items of comparable weight — three boxes of disposable gloves in one and a Rice Krispie Treat and numerous ibuprofen pills in the second — and had them delivered on July 2 to Espindola’s parcel locker in Pasco.

Hours later, an inspector watched as Espindola picked up his packages. He was arrested and admitted a friend paid him to get them.

Challenges ahead

Attorney Alex B. Hernandez III told the court that his client never imagined being in this situation just one year after high school graduation. Now he is 19 with a federal felony conviction, and “this experience has opened his eyes.”

Judge Mendoza warned Espindola that so often defendants say they will change, but then a week, month “or a year down the line, they’ve changed their tune and they’re back in front of me for violations.”

Espindola will have challenging times ahead, and someone he respects will tempt him with drugs or something else to break the conditions of his probation, the judge said. But he needs to be strong because Espindola alone will be the one to deal with those consequences, he said.

“I’m proud of you that you have a plan in place for your future. Continue to pursue that, whether those (business options) work or something else,” said Mendoza. “The fact that you’re thinking about it is going to be the key to your success.”

He told Espindola that even though he was granting probation over prison, he wanted to make sure the teen understands the seriousness of the charge.

“Don’t confuse what I’m saying, because what you did is criminal — plain and simple. The question is what you do going forward,” said Mendoza.

“I think you have a future here. You have a lot to look forward to in your life and you can change. Don’t throw that away,” he added. “Your sister believes in you, your attorney believes in you, and frankly I think the government believes in you, as I do. Don’t let us down.”

This story was originally published May 3, 2021 at 5:00 AM.