DuPage suspect says 14 pounds of marijuana were for personal use

A man accused of mailing 14 pounds of marijuana to himself told authorities the drugs were for personal use, prosecutors said Thursday.

Bail was set at $500,000 for Houston Muthart, 59, a California resident who was being held in the DuPage County jail on a charge of felony cannabis possession.

Assistant State’s Attorney Debora Brewer said the DuPage Metropolitan Enforcement Group, a drug task force, intercepted the package after Muthart mailed it to a storage unit he had rented in Elmhurst. When confronted by police later, he claimed the drugs were for his own personal use, she said.

The pot had an estimated street value of about $63,000, Brewer said. Aside from the large amount, investigators discovered text messages and other evidence indicating Muthart intended to distribute the drugs in Illinois, she said.

Muthart told DuPage Judge Neal Cerne that he lives in California but has property and family in Illinois. “I live here part of the year,” he said.

Should Muthart post the necessary $50,000 bond to be released, Cerne ordered him to prove as a condition of his release that the money did not come from ill-gotten gains.

If convicted of felony cannabis possession, Muthart could be sentenced to six to 30 years in prison, prosecutors said. His next court date is Feb. 14.

Muthart’s arrest came less than a month after another man, 69-year-old Walter T. Kwaitek, was arrested on charges he shipped 82 pounds of marijuana from Santa Rosa, Calif., to himself at a South Elgin freight and delivery company.