Christmas Presents Were Actually Pot – Man Busted

A 28-year-old man from Colorado who was checked into an Albany area hotel was arrested for some Christmas gifts.

The problem was that the wrapped gifts allegedly contained about 17 pounds of marijuana. United States Postal Service Inspectors put in a call to the Colonie Police about a package that was addressed to someone that was staying at the Desmond Hotel, and had the strong smell of pot.

Colonie Police brought in a K-9 which detected that there was marijuana in the present. They got a search warrant so they could open the present. What they found were several wrapped Christmas packages all containing pot inside the one package. According to the Colonie Police, the “Christmas” package had originated from Colorado.

As the investigation continued, it was discovered that the addressee had a reservation at The Desmond. When he got to the Hotel around 9:30 p.m. Monday night, he was given the package and had some “visitors” waiting for him. Those visitors were investigators from the United States Postal Service and the Colonie Police Department. That’s when they arrested David Malchow. He was charged with felony Criminal Possession Of Marijuana in the first degree.There was a search warrant executed for Malchow’s hotel room, but authorities didn’t find any more marijuana.

According to the story from News 10 ABC, authorities did find financial records that showed money orders or deposits for more than $5,000 dollars, and about $2,000 dollars, cash. $4,000 dollars per pound was the estimated value of the marijuana