Store clerk and son charged with selling kratom linked to the death of Ole Miss student
OXFORD, Miss. —
Federal prosecutors have charged a store clerk and his son with selling kratom that authorities believe is linked to the death of a University of Mississippi student, prosecutors announced Friday.
Related video above: Ole Miss students react to deaths of two classmates
The U.S. attorney’s office in Mississippi said authorities established a link between the kratom derivative found at the scene of the student’s death and a local vape, tobacco and beer store.
They executed several search warrants and arrested the store clerk and his son.
Yahya Mosleh, 51, and his son, Islam Mosleh, 18, are charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. They appeared before a judge in Oxford on Thursday, where it was determined that there was probable cause to proceed with the case.
Both men were originally arrested following an investigation by the Lafayette County Metro Narcotics Unit into the alleged sale of illegal substances from Puffs Vape, Tobacco and Beer in Oxford.
During that investigation, agents recovered more than 500 units of synthetic kratom, along with THC cartridges, gummies and other suspected narcotics being sold at the store.
Law enforcement said there was packaging associated with kratom-related products found at each of the scenes where the two Ole Miss students died.
A drug task force in Mississippi had urged people to avoid kratom, an herbal extract that acts as a stimulant at low doses and a sedative at high doses, after authorities found packages of the substance while investigating the deaths of two University of Mississippi students.
Lafayette County Metro Narcotics said investigators are still waiting on official autopsy and toxicology findings from the Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office to determine how Aidan Hamilton, a freshman from Englewood, Colorado, and Robert Strang, a junior from Atlanta, Georgia, died in late September.
It’s still not clear whether kratom contributed to either death, but federal prosecutors said both deaths appear consistent with drug overdoses.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
