Federal prosecutors have secured a third guilty plea in a drug smuggling ring that mailed a record amount of fentanyl pills from Arizona to the Twin Cities hidden in stuffed animals.

Da’Shawn Natori Domena, 25, of Indiana, pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul to conspiracy to distribute the drug in connection with the ring that ran from August 2022 to February 2023.

Eight others, all from either St. Paul or Minneapolis, also were charged this year with the same count following the seizure of 280,000 fentanyl pills that were sent in six packages through the U.S. Postal Service from Phoenix to the Twin Cities metro area.

Authorities called the fentanyl seizure, which amounted to 66 pounds with an estimated value of over $2.2 million, the largest ever in Minnesota.

Court documents say several of the defendants traveled to Phoenix to obtain fentanyl from suppliers, hid the pills inside stuffed animals and mailed them to addresses in and around the Twin Cities. The drug ring disguised the stuffed animals as birthday presents and lined them with dog treats in an attempt to prevent drug-sniffing dogs from alerting them.

Last week, Cornell Montez Chandler Jr., 25, of St. Paul, was sentenced to more than 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to the charge in June.

In August, Stardasha Christina Davenport-Mounger, 25, of Minneapolis, also admitted to the scheme, while the six other defendants have pleaded not guilty.

Sentencing dates for Davenport-Mounger and Domena have not been scheduled.

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