Store clerk and son charged with selling illegal kratom in investigation into deaths of two Ole Miss students

A store employee and his son have been charged with selling an illegal kratom product as federal authorities investigate the death of two students from the University of Mississippiprosecutors said Friday.

A Mississippi drug task force previously urged people to avoid kratom – a plant substance which acts as a stimulant in low doses and a sedative in high doses – after authorities found packets of kratom derivatives during a death investigation on September 21.

It’s still unclear whether those substances contributed to either death, but federal prosecutors said both appear to be consistent with drug overdoses. Two state agencies were working to expedite toxicology reports for students, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said in a statement last week. Lafayette County Metro Narcotics said Thursday the investigation remains active and additional charges are possible.

Bank statements show one of the students, Aidan Hamiltonmade several purchases in September at a vape, tobacco and beer store in Oxford, Mississippi, where the university is located, according to a filing in federal court.

On Sept. 24, an informant sent to the store by investigators purchased kratom pills from the seller, Yahya Mohamed Mosleh, 51, who warned the informant to “be careful taking these pills because people were dying from them,” U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Michael Dassance said in an affidavit.

Authorities arrested Mosleh along with his 18-year-old son, Islam Yahya Mosleh, who worked at the store. Each faces one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, the Justice Department said in a statement Friday.

Scott Davis, attorney for the elder Mosleh, and AE Harlow Jr., attorney for Islam Mosleh, said in emails that they had no comment. The defendants appeared before a magistrate judge on Thursday, who ruled there was enough evidence to charge them.

Kratom, which comes from a tree native to Southeast Asia, is federally legal. But some state and local governments have banned it, and federal authorities have issued warnings about its risks.

Proponents claim that in its pure crushed leaf form, kratom is a safe, natural herbal supplement that can help manage pain, anxiety, and depression and ease the effects of opioid withdrawal. They say the danger comes from kratom derivatives, which are often synthetic and can be very potent.

Kratom has been linked to deaths in rare cases, although it has typically been used with other medications, making its role in these deaths unclear, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

In August, the DEA banned three compounds linked to kratom. In his Sept. 25 affidavit, the DEA agent said one of the banned compounds was listed as an ingredient in products seized from the Oxford store and Hamilton’s bedroom.

Hamilton, a freshman from Englewood, Colorado, and the other student who died, Robert Stranga junior from Atlanta, were found in different locations, one on campus and one off campus.

Investigators found open packages of a kratom product labeled “Smax” in both of the students’ rooms, according to the Justice Department. Investigators then discovered a “suspected link” between these packages and the store where the Moslehs worked, the Justice Department said in its Friday statement.

Yahya Mosleh told the informant who went to the store on September 24 to be quiet when other customers came in and pushed the kratom pills out of sight. When the customers left, he finalized the sale, according to the affidavit, again telling the informant to be careful.

Eleven states have banned kratom. Others, including Mississippi, have regulated it, in part by requiring people to be 21 or older to buy it. The city of Oxford has also implemented its own ban on kratom.