Assistant U.S. Attorney Wei Xiang, who is handling the case, stated that, according to the criminal complaint, on Aug. 29, 2016, American law enforcement officers intercepted a package that was mailed from China and addressed to Karl Morrison at a UPS store in Niagara Falls, NY. Inside the package were four sample-sized packets of powder, two of which were tested and determined to contain 4-Methoxy Butyryl Fentanyl and Para-Fluoro Butyryl Fentanyl. If intended for human consumption, these synthetic substances are analogues of the Schedule II controlled substance fentanyl.
On Oct. 15, Morrison and his wife Sorina entered the United States from Canada at the Lewiston Queenston Port of Entry. The couple retrieved four packages from a UPS store, bought shipping supplies, and repackaged the contents of the original packages into new envelopes that they paid to ship back to Canada, including one to their home address. Law enforcement officers recovered these packages. Two contained more sample-sized packets of powder, including one apparently labeled as furanyl fentanyl. The third was a two-pound package containing a bulk quantity of powder that Sorina Morrison falsely declared as cinnamon butter.
The couple discarded the Chinese shipping labels of the original packages in various garbage cans around Niagara County. They also obtained from a telephone book the name and address of an unsuspecting citizen in Niagara Falls to use as the return address on the packages they shipped to Canada. Karl and Sorina Morrison were arrested as they drove back across the Lewiston Bridge toward Canada.
The defendants made an initial appearance before the U.S. Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder, Jr. and are being detained pending a hearing scheduled for Oct. 24 at 10:00 a.m.
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