WINONA, Minn. – Two persons were arrested after receiving three packages mailed from California, each with two pounds of meth packed inside stuffed animal dolls. The meth would have been worth $24,000 retail had it reached the streets, police said. The raid was about 12:10 p.m. on Winona’s West End. Arrested without resistance:
Damien Duwjan Shade, 46, Winona, charged with drug and illegal firearm possession.
Jessica Marie Willis, 39, of Winona, charged with drug possession.
the arrests were at Willis’ apartment in the Maplewood Townhomes on Kraemer Drive. Twenty-five officers who had massed for the raid met no resistance. Deputy Police Chief Jay Rasmussen gave this account:
> Homeland Security and U.S. Postal investigators in Rochester were aware of the shipments – two packages addressed to Willis in the 1700 block of Kraemer Drive in Winona and one to Shade at his duplex in the 700 block of Fifth Street.
> A team of officers led by Winona County sheriff’s officers was assembled. These included officers from the U.S. Homeland security agency in Rochester and officers from Austin, Goodview, Preston, Rochester, Wabasha and Winona.
> Shade was observed leaving Willis’s apartment and driving to his place a few blocks away.
> Shade returned to the Willis apartment with a single carton.
> Officers entered the apartment.
> Six pounds of meth were in the packages inside stuffed animal dolls, each with two pounds of meth.
> In Willis’ bedroom, police found a loaded syringe on a nigthtstand, baggie with meth, and a perfume bottles with suspicious contents. Later a jailer found 0.5 grams of meth in her bra.
> At Shade’s place, officers found $2,260 cash and a 357 magnum revolver with ammunition.