Federal authorities filed a criminal complaint Monday alleging that the man who caused a standoff with police at a South Portland apartment complex Friday evening had received methamphetamine in the mail.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service obtained a search warrant Friday from Chief U.S. District Judge Jon D. Levy for an apartment at 757 Main St., the address of the Kings Wood Apartments.

The criminal complaint filed late Monday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Portland by U.S. Postal Inspector Troy I. Dumond charges Patrick Clark, 52, of South Portland with two counts: attempted possession with intent to distribute and possession with intent to distribute a mixture or substance containing methamphetamine. The two counts carry a prison term of as much as 20 years.

The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency supported local police and federal agents in their search at the apartment complex.

The confrontation with police began around 4:30 p.m. and resulted in a 2½-hour standoff. Police evacuated all of the residents in the four-story apartment building.

In the affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint and search warrant, Dumond alleges that probable cause existed to charge Clark with the two Class C felonies.

Dumond is assigned to investigate dangerous mail and prohibited mailings, which include narcotics and controlled substances.

“Based on information from a confidential source with first-hand knowledge that Patrick Clark received distributable quantities of methamphetamine through the mail, Postal Inspectors began looking for packages shipped to 757 Main Street, Unit 46, South Portland,” Dumond wrote.

Dumond said he learned on Jan. 1 that a package sent from San Francisco had been mailed to Clark at his South Portland address.

Dumond said he located that package Friday by using a drug-sniffing dog at the postal processing center in Scarborough. After obtaining a search warrant for the package, Dumond said, he discovered that it contained 115 grams of suspected methamphetamine, and that field tests indicated the substance was methamphetamine.

Officers replaced all but a small quantity of the drug with a non-controlled substance and a postal inspector delivered the package to Clark’s apartment. About six minutes after the package was delivered, law enforcement agents descended on the apartment and removed two people.

Both were released, but Clark barricaded himself in a rear bedroom, according to court documents.

Police officers eventually entered the rear bedroom around 6:45 p.m.

“Clark appeared to be suffering from the effects of drug use,” Dumond said in the affidavit. “He was transported to a local hospital.”

Officers seized 70 grams of a white crystal substance consistent with the appearance of methamphetamine, a digital scale, more than $800 in cash, two cellphones, and a Microsoft Surface tablet. Dumond said he believes the phones and tablet may contain drug records, drug ledgers, seller and buyer lists, as well as the types and amounts of drugs being sold.

It was not clear from the federal court filings whether Clark remained in the hospital Monday or if he had been transferred to a correctional facility.

Emily Spera, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, said in an email Monday that no one has been arrested, to her knowledge.

An intake worker at the Cumberland County Jail said Monday night that Clark was not being housed there.

Spera declined to provide any details or to confirm that Clark was the subject of the investigation. “In order to preserve the integrity of our investigations and prevent fundamental unfairness to the subjects of those investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service does not comment on ongoing investigations,” she wrote.

Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at:

dhoey@pressherald.com