Judge finds probable cause in federal case against Oxford vape clerks

A federal judge found probable cause on Oct. 1 for drug charges against two clerks at an Oxford, Mississippi, vape store where one of two University of Mississippi students found dead on Sept. 21 had bought synthetic kratom tablets.

During the investigations, packaging associated with kratom-related products was discovered at both locations. This information prompted law enforcement to issue a public safety warning out of an abundance of caution. That warning was not a declaration that kratom or any specific substance caused either death.

Yahya Mohamed Mosleh, 51, and an 18-year-old co-worker were arrested on Sept. 25 and charged under state law with possession of Schedule I controlled substances with intent to distribute, according to a filing in Lafayette County Circuit Court reported by SuperTalk Mississippi News. The Lafayette County Metro Narcotics Unit identified the younger man as Islam Mohamed; federal court records reported by WMC name him Islam Mosleh.

What the charges cover

Both men appeared in federal court on Oct. 1, where a judge determined there was probable cause for the federal charges, WMC reported. Each faces a count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.

Neither man is accused in the death of either student, according to the court documents.

A DEA affidavit dated Sept. 25, reported by Fox News Digital, said toxicology results from the medical examiner were still pending at that point. A second affidavit, filed Sept. 28 in the Third District Circuit Court of Mississippi by Caleb East, an agent with the Lafayette County Metro Narcotics Unit, described undercover operations at two retail stores.

Aidan Hamilton, 18, died in his dorm room at Stewart Hall on the Oxford campus, and officers were dispatched about an hour after finding him to a house on Van Buren Avenue, where they found Robert Strang, 20, dead in his bedroom, court documents show. Hamilton was from Colorado and Strang from Atlanta.

Two scenes, one product

The coroner and medical personnel at Hamilton's dorm said he could have died of a pulmonary edema, consistent with a drug overdose, according to the Sept. 28 affidavit. Agents found SMAX Pseudo-DHM pills on his dresser. His roommate told investigators that Hamilton smoked a lot of marijuana from pens and pipes, kept it in a safe and had a terrible cough, but that he did not know him to use hard drugs.

At Strang's house, investigators counted 20 to 30 nitrous oxide cans, and his roommates said he used whippets daily. A packet of SMAX sat on his nightstand in packaging similar to the pills in Hamilton's room. Roommates said Strang took a Xanax bar around 4 p.m. on Sept. 20 and was last seen in the kitchen around midnight; his body was found at 3:30 p.m. the next day.

SMAX Pseudo-DHM is a chewable, concentrated tablet marketed as a kratom-like product whose ingredients the affidavit lists as mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15 and 7-hydroxymitragynine, compounds it says can be produced fully synthetically in clandestine laboratories at far higher potency than natural leaf products. The DEA temporarily placed mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15 and MGM-16 on the Schedule I list on Aug. 26, 2026.

East wrote that synthetic mitragynine compounds can be stronger than morphine and carry a high risk of severe addiction, overdose and death.

Court documents reviewed by Fox News Digital show the packaging found near both students carried the brand Modus.

Where the pills were bought

Bank records tied each student to a different retailer, according to the circuit court filing reported by SuperTalk Mississippi News. Strang bought SMAX at an Express Mart in Water Valley, about 20 miles from the Ole Miss campus, on Sept. 9 and Sept. 11. Hamilton bought the product at Puffs Vape Tobacco & Beer in Oxford on Sept. 9, Sept. 14 and Sept. 20, the day before he was found dead.

Court documents did not establish that the product found near Hamilton when he died came from Puffs, Fox News Digital reported. Agents bought similar products at the Water Valley store for laboratory analysis. Mississippi Department of Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell said the state wants the pills tested to see whether they have been laced with other chemicals.

Metro Narcotics sent a confidential informant carrying audio and video equipment into Puffs on Sept. 24 to buy nitrous oxide and kratom. The clerk said he had no nitrous oxide and offered marijuana from a jar of pre-rolled joints. The informant left, came back and asked whether the store sold 7-OH kratom-based pills; the clerk unlocked a drawer under the register and set a package on the counter.

When other customers walked in, Yahya Mosleh told the informant to be quiet about the pills and pushed them out of sight, the filing states. The informant waited until the group left, came back to the counter and handed over $100. Mosleh put the pills in a black plastic bag, tied it closed and warned the informant to "be careful taking the pills, because people are dying from them."

What toxicology has not shown

The causes of death have not been confirmed, and the narcotics task force has said it will not speculate about what substances, if any, contributed until autopsy and toxicology results are received and evaluated. Police have said repeatedly that it remains unknown whether the kratom-related products caused or contributed to the deaths.

Gov. Tate Reeves confirmed that the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation are working with local officials to expedite the autopsies.

Banned in Oxford since 2019

Kratom has been banned from possession, sale and distribution in the City of Oxford since 2019, the Lafayette County Metro Narcotics Unit said when it announced the search. Mac Haddow, a senior fellow at the American Kratom Association, said at a press conference on Sept. 30 that the specific drug found near both students is illegal. The DEA temporarily placed the synthetic compounds in such products on Schedule I in August; kratom itself is not federally controlled. Lafayette County banned kratom in 2021.

Agents executed a search warrant at Puffs and seized more than 500 units of kratom, an assortment of THC cartridges and gummies and other suspected narcotics, the narcotics unit said. The store's owner, 40-year-old Amer Alowdi, was indicted in 2022 on narcotics trafficking and fled the country before prosecution, and SuperTalk Mississippi News reported that he is a person of interest in the current case.

What clinicians are warning

Dr. Lucas Trautman, medical director at the Oxford Treatment Center, told WMC that the products are sold in gas stations as natural and marketed to help with pain or sleep. They are opioids, he said, and people get addicted to them and have severe withdrawals.

Dr. Jennifer Bryan, a family physician, said the public should not treat natural as a synonym for safe, because no label establishes what is inside the package and the regulation is very loose. Versions made synthetically with illegal substances are referred to as gas station heroin, WMC reported.

The Food and Drug Administration has not approved kratom for any medical use and does not regulate the kratom products sold in the United States.

Investigators have called on state lawmakers to ban synthetic opioid compounds and to distinguish them from traditional botanical kratom, according to a news release from the county's drug task force. Dr. Omer Awan, a radiologist and senior public health contributor for Forbes, said kratom is a plant-based extract that can act as a stimulant at low doses and a sedative at higher doses.

What remains unresolved

Metro Narcotics said both death investigations remain open, with the inquiry stretching from Lafayette County into Yalobusha County, where products bought at the Express Mart are undergoing laboratory analysis. The unit has warned that more charges and arrests may follow. It has not said when the toxicology results are expected. Anyone struggling with substance use can call the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357.