A Bronx bus driver and his two alleged accomplices were arraigned in Manhattan Supreme Court Monday after they were busted in June allegedly transporting cocaine in Minnie Mouse wrapping paper.
Robert Woolridge, 38, of Throgs Neck, who worked as an MTA bus driver, Christopher Kelly, 51, of Bergen Beach, and Salvatore Capece, 63, of Effort, Pennsylvania, had been under surveillance by agents from the illegal drug crime fighting unit New York Strike Force.
On June 19, agents saw Kelly obtain a package wrapped in pink Minnie Mouse gift wrap from the trunk of a car and hand the package to Woolridge, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency. Woolridge allegedly swapped a Burberry shopping bag for the Minnie Mouse parcel, investigators said, and drove away.
Investigators arrived at Kelly’s home later that evening and conducted a search warrant. Kelly and Capece were inside when investigators discovered a second Minnie Mouse package containing two kilograms of cocaine and $74,300 in cash inside a Burberry bag, the DEA said.
On June 28, investigators searched Woolridge’s Bronx home and found a UPS bag with two kilograms of suspected cocaine worth up to $75,000, inside, according to investigators. They also found scales and packaging materials inside the residence, the DEA said.
“This case gives a new meaning to looking a gift horse in the mouth,” DEA Special Agent in Charge James Hunt said in a statement.
