A Winona, Minn., man has been convicted on gun and drug charges in connection to trafficking methamphetamine inside stuffed animals.
Damien Duwjan Shade, 48, was found guilty by a jury on Wednesday on all charged counts in the indictment, including 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 Joe Thompson.
A press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office summarized information presented at trial, stating that 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, Calif., to two separate addresses in Winona, Minn. 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.
A drug detection K9 was utilized to sniff the packages and alerted to the presence of drugs inside the packages. Law enforcement received warrants to open the packages, where they found six pounds of methamphetamine hidden inside stuffed animals.
Sensors and tracking devices were then placed inside the packages, and all but a small amount of methamphetamine was removed from each box and replaced with “filler,” containing rock salt and other materials, to approximate the original weight of the packages.
A “controlled delivery” was then conducted, delivering the packages to the addresses on the packages. The mother of Shade’s children initially retrieved the packages, and then Shade arrived at her home to collect the packages, which he believed were full of methamphetamine. Law enforcement searched the scene and found that Shade had opened the controlled delivery packages. Law enforcement found the controlled delivery methamphetamine and the guts of the cut-open stuffed animals.
Shade confessed to law enforcement, saying he traveled to California, purchased several pounds of meth, and then shipped it back to himself in Minnesota using fake names. He admitted he hid the methamphetamine inside stuffed animals, and 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, where 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.
Shade was previously convicted in 2013 of being a felon in possession of a firearm in San Diego, Calif.
On Sept. 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 and 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).
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Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
Crime Watch MN
Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
