A Dawson County mail carrier accused of selling methamphetamine on her route is off the job pending the outcome of the investigation, authorities said Monday.

Darlene Crane Waters, 45, was suspended on Friday, three weeks after she was arrested for reportedly delivering a phone book containing methamphetamine to a mailbox in eastern Dawson County.

Authorities have video surveillance of Waters making the delivery and recorded conversations detailing the transaction, according to Dawson County Sheriff’s Maj. John Cagle.

Waters’ suspension came a day after U.S. Marshals arrested her son, 29-year-old Stephen Brent Waters, on unrelated charges in Pickens County.

Assistant District Attorney John Wilbanks said the younger Waters had eluded authorities since escaping from an Atlanta hospital where he was being treated for injuries from a June 6 wreck.

Stephen Waters, who is on probation after serving two years in prison on a felony weapons charge, had previously fled a court-ordered drug treatment center in Gainesville.

He remains in local custody, said Dawson County Sheriff’s Lt. Tony Wooten.

“U.S. Marshals were in north Georgia conducting a sting and our officers requested their help in locating Mr. Waters with some of the techniques and means they have available,” Wooten said.

According to state Department of Corrections records, Stephen Waters has spent much of the last decade in prison. His convictions have ranged from possession of marijuana and methamphetamine to theft by receiving stolen property and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Darlene Waters faces charges of selling, possession and intent to distribute methamphetamine, manufacturing and possession of marijuana, and two counts of using communication frequencies for criminal use.

A mail carrier with the Dawson County Post Office since April 1995, she had reportedly been making her special deliveries for some time. She was released June 4 on a $25,200 out-of-county property bond.

Glenn Alan Corindia, who authorities say lives with Darlene Waters and is also a local mail carrier, was arrested May 22 on felony of possession of marijuana and methamphetamine and manufacturing marijuana. 

The investigation has not revealed if Corindia, 46, delivered drugs on his postal route, said Cagle, adding that U.S. Postal Service inspectors could be looking into the case.

Corindia, who is out on a $21,200 bond, returned to work June 5.

Spokesman Michael Miles has confirmed that the U.S. Postal Service is aware of the situation involving Corindia and Darlene Waters, but that “at this point, these are just charges.”

The cases against Darlene Waters and Corindia were expected to be presented Tuesday to the Dawson County Grand Jury.

Wilbanks has said he would like to see federal investigators pursue Darlene Waters’ case, noting that it involves a “federal employee making drug deliveries on her postal route.” 

Yolanda Burns, a spokeswoman for the Postal Inspection Service in Atlanta, could not confirm Monday if her office was investigating the case.

She has not ruled out additional federal charges, noting that “delivering drugs through the mail is a federal crime.”

E-mail Michele Hester at michele@dawsonnews.com.