AUSTIN — A Blooming Prairie man was ordered held on $100,000 conditional bail after Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Police alerted local authorities that a package containing a large amount of marijuana and hallucinogenic candy bars was to be delivered to an Austin residence.
Dylan Jeffery Okorie, 21, made his first appearance Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, in Mower County District Court on two counts of first-degree drug possession with intent to sell, two counts of second-degree drug possession with intent to sell, two counts of second-degree drug possession 50 grams of hallucinogen and single counts of fifth-degree possession with intent to sell and fifth-degree possession. All eight charges are felonies.
At the hearing, Judge Jeffrey Kritzer ordered Okorie held on $100,000 conditional bail or $250,000 unconditional bail. Okorie's next court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 24.
On Feb. 8, 2022, an MSP airport police officer contacted Austin police after a suspicious package was found. A police dog alerted a detective to the package and a search warrant was obtained to open the box. Inside, the detective found a large amount of marijuana and 30 psilocybin (hallucinogenic) mushroom candy bars, according to the criminal complaint.
Airport police offered to come to Austin to do a controlled delivery the following day at a residence in the 1400 block of Ninth Avenue Northwest in Austin. An undercover officer, who drove a delivery truck and was dressed in a delivery uniform, dropped the package at the residence about 9:40 a.m. Feb. 9 after no one answered the door. Members of law enforcement watched the house and stopped two men who pulled into the driveway about 10:15 a.m.
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One of the men initially denied knowing what was in the package, but then said it was likely marijuana and that the package was for his friend in Blooming Prairie, according to the criminal complaint.
Before Okorie picked up the package, detectives removed about 2,630 grams of marijuana and replaced it with sand to keep the weight consistent.
"They also left approximately 543 grams of marijuana, 30 psilocybin candy bars, and one THC candy bar in the package," the complaint states. "The box was then resealed and taken back to the male subject’s residence."
Okorie was arrested about 5 p.m. in a traffic stop a short time after picking up the package. He reportedly told police he did not know what was inside of the box. The criminal complaint notes that Okorie was previously arrested for possession a large amount of hallucinogenic mushroom in Steele County.
