Jury Convicts Defendant of Hiding Methamphetamine in Stuffed Animals

MINNEAPOLIS - Late yesterday, following a two-day jury trial, Damien Duwjan Shade, age 48, was found guilty of all charged counts in the indictment, that is, one count of being a Felon in Possession of a Firearm and one count of Attempted Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson.

"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. This verdict ensures there will be consequences."

According to evidence presented at trial, in March 2023, the Rochester Police Department responded to the FedEx facility at the Rochester Airport after learning of three suspicious packages sent from San Diego, California, to two separate addresses in Winona, Minnesota. The packages were all shipped from the same sender-"Trayvon Strange"-and were addressed to fictitious individuals whom law enforcement determined did not live at the stated addresses.

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Rochester Police Department arranged for a drug detecting K9 to sniff the packages. The K9 alerted to the presence of drugs inside the packages. Law enforcement received warrants to open the packages. In the packages, law enforcement found six pounds of methamphetamine hidden inside of stuffed animals.

The next day, law enforcement placed sensors and tracking devices inside the packages, removing all but a small amount of methamphetamine from each box and replacing the methamphetamine with "filler"-rock salt and other materials-to approximate the original weight of the packages.

Law enforcement conducted a "controlled delivery," delivering the packages to the addresses on the packages. The mother of the defendant's children initially retrieved the packages and then the defendant arrived at her home to collect the packages, which he believed were full of methamphetamine. Law enforcement searched the scene and found that the defendant had opened the controlled delivery packages. Law enforcement found the controlled delivery methamphetamine and the guts of the cut-open stuffed animals.

The defendant confessed. He said that he traveled to California, purchased several pounds meth, and then shipped it back to himself in Minnesota using fake names. He admitted he hid the methamphetamine inside of stuffed animals. He also admitted he had a gun at his apartment, which he was not legally allowed to possess because he is a felon.

Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Shade's home. There, they found the third controlled delivery package, unopened, on a chair in the living room. The package contained the stuffed animals, repackaged with the filler material that law enforcement switched out for the methamphetamine.

Law enforcement further found a loaded Comanche III .357 Magnum revolver in a dresser drawer, a digital scale, approximately 30 small Ziplock baggies in an unlocked safe, and what appeared to be a drug ledger. A search of the bedroom closet further revealed a stash of over 400 live .357 Magnum handgun rounds and a spent casing.

As charged in the indictment, in 2013, Shade was previously convicted of being a Felon in Possession of a Firearm in San Diego, California.

On September 24, 2025, a federal jury convicted Shade on both charged counts in U.S. District Court before District Judge Michael J. Davis. Shade will be sentenced at a later date. He faces up to life in prison.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by Homeland Security Investigations, the Rochester Police Department, the Winona County Sheriff's Office, the Winona Police Department, and other members of the Southeast Minnesota Violent Crime Enforcement Team (SEMVCET).

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren O. Roso and Syngen Kanassatega prosecuted and tried the case.