Man found guilty of all charges in connection to hiding drugs inside stuffed animals

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said a 48-year-old man was found guilty of multiple charges for hiding methamphetamine in stuffed animals.

Damien Duwjan Shade was found guilty on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of attempted possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

Prosecutors say that in March of 2023, police were called to a FedEx facility in Rochester, where three suspicious packages had arrived from San Diego, intended for two addresses in Winona.

A K-9 was brought in to sniff for illegal substances, with the dog alerting authorities that drugs were inside the boxes. Opening the packages revealed six pounds of methamphetamine hidden inside multiple stuffed animals.

Courtesy: USAMN

Courtesy: USAMN

Courtesy: USAMN

The next day, after removing most of the methamphetamine and planting tracking devices inside the boxes, authorities said they performed a “controlled delivery” to where they had been addressed.

The mother of the defendant’s children initially retrieved the packages, but Shade later arrived at her home to take them from her. Law enforcement searched the area and found Shade had opened boxes, locating the remaining methamphetamine they left inside and the “guts” of the cut-open stuffed animals.

“Stuffed animals are symbols of childhood, not vessels for poison,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson. “Turning a child’s toy into a cover for lethal drugs shows the lengths drug traffickers will go to peddle their poison.”

Shade later confessed to authorities that he had travelled to California, where he purchased the drugs, hiding them himself in the stuffed animals and then sent them to himself in Minnesota.

Shade’s sentencing will take place on a later date. He is facing a potential life sentence.
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