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Pittsburgh Native Arrested, Accused Of Selling Pot Through Mail

PITTSBURGH (KDKA)- A 21-year-old Pittsburgh native has been arrested for allegedly selling marijuana through the mail.

For four months, the Allegheny County Police Narcotics Unit has been investigating a marijuana distribution network based out of San Francisco, California.

Police arrested a person for receiving a shipment of the marijuana through the United States Postal Service. They used that person as a confidential informant to help bust the person who was distributing the marijuana.

The informant stated they would contact a female by way of text message to place an order. Then, they would send money to one of five addresses in the San Francisco area under the name Sarah DeHaro or Sarah Jean.

According to the criminal complaint, Sarah DeHaro lived at a home on Jamaica Avenue in West View with her parents. She recently moved to California.

The confidential informant requested an eight-pound marijuana order from DeHaro. Police had the U.S. Postal Inspector intercept the package back in April and it was delivered to Allegheny County Police Headquarters. The package had eight separate vacuum sealed packages weighing about a pound each. Police obtained video surveillance showing DeHaro and her boyfriend, Yevgeniy Grinberg, waiting in line to deliver the packages.

An undercover officer acted as the confidential informant's associate, and contacted DeHaro about getting marijuana. The officer was in contact with Grinberg via phone calls and text messages in July. The officer had been asking for an in-person meeting to discuss purchasing marijuana. Grinberg told the officer that DeHaro was headed to Pittsburgh in July, to visit her parents.

On Monday, the undercover officer set up a meeting with DeHaro to discuss a drug transaction. Through a series of text messages, DeHaro told the officer to meet her in the parking garage at Bakery Square on Penn Avenue.

She claimed to have placed the box of samples of marijuana and had oil in the backseat of her car. Police took DeHaro and a man who was with her, Navid Pourarian, into custody.

Police also served a search warrant on DeHaro's parents home on Jamaica Avenue in West View. They discovered $600 in cash and some mailing evidence.

DeHaro faces a long list of drug charges. Pourarian was also charged with drug possession.

It's unclear if Allegheny County Police shared information with officials in California and whether charges will be filed against Grinberg.

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