Federal prosecutors have secured a fourth guilty plea in a drug smuggling ring that mailed a record amount of fentanyl pills from Arizona to the Twin Cities hidden in stuffed animals.
Robiel Lee Williams, 24, of St. Paul, pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul to conspiracy to distribute the drug in connection with the ring from August 2022 to February 2023.
Eight others, from St. Paul and Minneapolis, also were charged this year with the same count following seizure of 280,000 fentanyl pills sent in six packages through the U.S. Postal Service from Phoenix to the Twin Cities.
Authorities called the seizure — 66 pounds with an estimated value of more than $2.2 million — the largest in Minnesota.
Court documents say several of the defendants traveled to Phoenix to obtain fentanyl, hid the pills inside stuffed animals and mailed them to addresses around the Twin Cities. The drug ring disguised the stuffed animals as birthday presents and lined them with dog treats to prevent drug-sniffing dogs from alerting them.
In November, Cornell Montez Chandler Jr., 25, of St. Paul, was sentenced to more than 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to the charge.
Stardasha Christina Davenport-Mounger, 25, of Minneapolis, and Da’Shawn Natori Domena, 25, of Indiana, also admitted to the scheme, while the five other defendants have pleaded not guilty.
Sentencings for Williams, Davenport-Mounger and Domena have not been scheduled.