(Stillwater, Okla.) — A 49-year-old man, who resides both in California and in Yale, has been jailed on $100,000 bail pending an Oct. 7 court appearance on a Payne County charge of possessing 64 pounds of the hallucinogenic drug, DMT, with intent to distribute, in a case referred to Stillwater police by Homeland Security, court records show.
At the time of his Sept. 19 arrest in Stillwater in the parking lot of a virtual mailbox, Kou Yang, 49, was already on probation for trafficking about 105 pounds of marijuana east of Cushing in a case investigated by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol two years ago, court records show.
Stillwater Police Detective Josh Carson had been contacted on Sept. 17 by an agent regarding five kilograms of DMT seized by Homeland Security at a Federal Express shipping distribution center in Memphis, according to an affidavit filed in court records last week.
“The DMT was addressed to be delivered to the Postal Pack and Ship located at 601 S. Washington (in Stillwater). Homeland Security had already had the substance tested and had a presumptive positive test for DMT.
“DMT is a hallucinogenic tryptamine drug that naturally occurs in many plant species. It can also be made in a laboratory. DMT produces effects similar to those of psychedelics, like LSD and magic mushrooms.
“Some people refer to the drug by other names including Dimitri and fantasia. DMT is a schedule 1 controlled substance in the United States, which means it’s illegal to make, buy, possess or distribute it.
“Through our investigation, we found out the package was going to DYE GUYS LLC,” owned by Yang, whose home address was in Yale, the Stillwater police detective alleged in his affidavit.
“Yang has an expired work visa and was arrested for drug trafficking on 11-1-22 in Payne County for trafficking a large amount of marijuana. Yang has a virtual mailbox at 601 S. Washington at the Postal Pack and Ship and receives Fedex packages at his virtual mailbox.
“From my training and experience, I know drug traffickers often receive drugs at an obscure address to avoid law enforcement detection. Yang has received two other shipments of DMT at this location of the same size.
“Yang was contacted and told his package was delivered. Yang made arrangements to pick up the package on Thursday 9-19-24. I posed as the owner of Postal Pack and Ship and handed Yang the package of DMT. Yang asked me about another shipment he was waiting on and left the business with the package. Yang was arrested in the parking lot for trafficking DMT.
“Yang confirmed he knew the contents of the package and stated he thought it was Mexican Root. DMT is derived from the bark of a tree. I asked Yang for access to his phone and he ‘pleaded the Fifth.’ From my training and experience, I know drug traffickers use their phone to facilitate drug deals,” the Stillwater police detective alleged in his affidavit.
After the detective obtained a search warrant issued by a Payne County judge, Stillwater police went to Yang’s residence in Yale where a woman with four small children answered the door, the affidavit alleged.
“I found an enormous amount of DMT powder on the east side of the residence in a pantry closet. Several packages were vacuum sealed and in boxes marked Fedex and US Mail. It was obvious Yang was receiving packages of DMT through the mail.
“The DMT in the packages were in Kilo bundles and marked with weights on the outside. I also found two cases of new pill capsules used to contain the drug that had not been loaded yet. Alongside the pill capsules, I found new shipping boxes and labels used to send mail.
“I continued the search and found business cards for ‘herbal supplements.’ I accessed the website and observed the DMT product being sold online. From my training and experience, psychedelic drugs are often marketed on websites as ‘experimental’ or ‘herbal’ and ‘not for human consumption.’
“I observed pictures of Yang,” with the woman and her children as well as tax paperwork with Yang’s name and his address in Yale, the Stillwater police detective alleged in his affidavit.
The woman said that Yang was operating a website and selling the DMT powder online, the affidavit alleged. She said she did not have any idea what Yang did day-to-day, the affidavit said.
“Yang keeps a residence in California and is often gone. (She) told me Yang lives with her when he is in Oklahoma. (She) did not participate in the online business and was tasked with taking care of the four children.
“A total weight of 24,173 grams or approximately 53 pounds of DMT was seized from the residence along with the 11 additional pounds that Yang had delivered to his virtual mailbox in Stillwater for a total weight of 64 pounds.
“It should be noted another package addressed to Yang was seized in the Memphis distribution center during this investigation that had an additional 11 pounds of DMT inside,” the Stillwater police detective alleged in his affidavit.
