UPS Employee Swapped Stolen Diamond For Pot

SEPTEMBER 26--A United Parcel Service worker who discovered a $160,000 diamond inside a package he swiped inexplicably traded the valuable jewel for a bag of marijuana, Arizona investigators charge.

Walter Earl Morrison, 20, allegedly nicked the package late last month while unloading a UPS cargo plane at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport. Morrison, a ramp agent, stuffed the parcel under his shirt, according to a probable cause statement.

Morrison later told cops that he thought the package would contain cash “since it was being sent by Brink’s.”

Instead, Morrison found a small cardboard box inside the UPS parcel. After placing the container down his shirt, Morrison (seen at right) went into a UPS restroom and opened the box, discovering it contained a diamond (which he then stuffed in his pocket).

During a police interrogation earlier this month, Morrison confessed to the theft, saying that he called a friend and swapped the diamond “in exchange for one gram of marijuana.” A gram of pot retails for about $20.

The diamond was subsequently recovered by Phoenix police.

Morrison was arrested September 16 on a felony theft charge. A Maricopa County grand jury indicted him Monday on the same charge. Now locked up in the county jail, Morrison is scheduled for arraignment on October 1. 

Morrison, who lives with his grandmother, has been fired by UPS.   

During police questioning, “Walter admitted he made a mistake,” according to court records. While this mistake is not further described, Morrison was apparently referring to the theft of the parcel, not his sale of a $160,000 diamond for a small amount of pot. (3 pages)