Jeremy Mercier arrested on drug charges in Maine

Restaurant employees in Auburn, Maine, were stunned when they realized a crate full of drugs had been shipped to their business.

On Friday, the large wooden crate was delivered to the restaurant. It had a return address that tracked to Arizona, Auburn police said.

Employees at the restaurant were expecting a shipment of mugs and figured the crate was full of them. To their surprise, when they opened it, they located a plastic tote which had what employees believed was a large amount of illegal drugs. They were right. Auburn police said more than $3 million worth of fentanyl was inside the crate. This is about 14 kilos worth.

Officers and detectives caught Jeremy Mercier at the restaurant looking for the shipment an hour after the delivery, authorities said. Mercier — 41 years old from Auburn — allegedly has no affiliation to the restaurant.

Police arrested him on multiple charges, including aggravated illegal importation of scheduled drugs, aggravated trafficking of scheduled drugs and violation of conditional release.

Mercier has a previous federal conviction for distributing cocaine in August 2007. He served several years in prison, but was out on pre-conviction bail.