Gardner was indicted for meth trafficking, and two other charges — stemming from a jail phone call — were dismissed as part of a plea deal.
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Rose also ordered Gardner to serve five years of supervised release and forfeit of $876. The judge awarded Gardner jail-time credit and will recommend he is housed in Milan, Mich., or as close to Dayton as possible.
Gardner has previous Montgomery County Common Pleas Court convictions for burglary, possession of crack cocaine, felonious assault and weapons charges.
In November 2017, United States Postal employees intercepted a package mailed from Henderson, Nevada, addressed to a person who didn’t live at a Centerville home on Parkbrook Drive, according to a search warrant affidavit.
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The Priority Mail Express package weighing more than six pounds was opened pursuant to a prior federal search warrant and found to contain a whitish crystalline substance that field tested positive for meth.
An affidavit said an undercover officer posing as a postal carrier knocked several times before leaving the package outside the residence’s door. About a half-hour later, the document said, Gardner took the package inside before federal agents knocked several times without any answer.
Gardner later said he was taking a shower, but he was fully clothed and there were no wet towels or moisture in any tubs, according to the affidavit.
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Gardner was arrested and booked into the Montgomery County Jail on Nov. 16, 2017. The next day, the affidavit said, jail officials reviewed a phone call in which Gardner mentioned “cleaning things out of his room.”
During a consented search of Gardner’s mother’s Dayton residence, investigators found Gardner’s cell phone, baggies and a blender with suspected narcotics residue that tested positive for acetaminophen, heroin and fentanyl.
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