Mississippi store clerk and son charged in illegal kratom sales linked to Ole Miss student deaths
Federal prosecutors have charged a store clerk and his 18-year-old son with possession with intent to distribute illegal kratom after the drug was found in the rooms of two University of Mississippi students who died in September.
Federal prosecutors in Mississippi have charged Yahya Mohamed Mosleh, 51, a store clerk, and his 18-year-old son, Islam Yahya Mosleh, with possession with intent to distribute an illegal kratom product. The charges stem from a September investigation into the deaths of two University of Mississippi students, Aidan Hamilton and Robert Strang, whose toxicology reports indicated drug overdoses.
Investigators said an informant purchased kratom-based pills from the Oxford store on Sept. 24. According to a DEA affidavit, Mosleh warned the informant to "be careful taking the pills because people were dying from them." The pills were later identified as containing a DEA-banned kratom derivative listed in seized product from the students' rooms.
Bank records show Hamilton bought multiple items from the same store in September. Opened packages of a kratom product labeled "Smax" were found in both students' rooms, and officials said a "suspected link" exists between those packages and the Mosleh-run shop.
Kratom is legal under federal law but has been restricted or banned in several states, and Mississippi regulators require buyers to be 21 or older. The city of Oxford has also enacted its own ban. The Justice Department said the investigation remains active and additional charges could follow.
"We are working to expedite toxicology reports for the students," Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves said in a statement.
Both defendants appeared before a magistrate judge, who found sufficient evidence to proceed with the charges. Their attorneys declined to comment.