URBANA — A Champaign man who allegedly had several hundred tablets of a painkiller in his home Thursday has been charged with controlled substances trafficking.
Judge Brett Olmstead on Friday set bond for Musonda F. Chansa, 23, who listed an address in the 2500 block of Campbell Drive, at $250,000 after hearing allegations that on Thursday, members of the Champaign County Street Crimes Task Force found a package that had been delivered to his home from Arizona that contained 973 oxycodone tablets hidden inside a stuffed animal.
Task force members had obtained a search warrant for Chansa’s home after learning from a postal inspector that a package containing the drugs was headed for that address.
Chansa told police officers that he did not sell drugs nor did he know how many pills were in the package. He said that in return for 15 pills, he agreed to let an acquaintance have the drugs shipped to his house. However, he declined to identify that person.
After telling police he had no other drugs in the house, officers found another 453 oxycodone tablets in a coat pocket, a sealed postal package containing 295 suspected cannabis vape cartridges, $2,320 in another coat pocket, and 37 one-dollar bills that had suspected cocaine residue on them.
Police also found digital scales and a bundle of $3,000 cash hidden on top of a ceiling tile.
In addition to the controlled substances trafficking charge, which carries a mandatory prison term of between six and 30 years upon conviction, Chansa was also charged with possession with intent to deliver oxycodone and possession with intent to deliver cannabis.
Court records show that Chansa was serving a term of first-offender probation from a 2021 Douglas County case for possession with intent to deliver cannabis. Olmstead told Chansa to be back in court on April 12 with his attorney.
