Court upholds sentence of US sailor who had magic truffles mailed to Japan

NAHA, Okinawa — A Japanese appeals court on Thursday upheld the conviction of a U.S. sailor who tried to obtain magic truffles through the Japanese postal system last year.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Kyle Mudd, 28, was convicted in March by the Naha District Court for violating the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Act and the Customs Act.

The district court sentenced Mudd to two years in prison after trial; however, that sentence was suspended for four years, meaning he will serve no prison time unless he commits another offense in Japan in that period.

A three-judge panel in the Naha branch of the Fukuoka High Court presided over by Judge Hiroaki Kikuchi ruled Thursday that Mudd’s appeal was “without merit.”

Mudd was indicted July 2025 for attempting to have a package with 71 grams of truffles containing the narcotics psilocin and psilocybin sent to his home in Ginowan city. The amount is equal in weight to about three AA batteries.

Truffles, unlike mushrooms, grow underground. Mudd also purchased a cultivation kit online, according to the original sentencing.

Mudd’s attorney, Tetsu Amakata, in a statement submitted to the court on June 15, argued the imported material was not proven to be a narcotic. An expert report submitted by prosecutors said none of the materials could be identified as mushrooms and refers them only as “masses” that looks like truffles.

Kikuchi dismissed this argument, saying Japanese law is clear that both psilocybin and psilocin are substances defined as narcotics.

Amakata also argued that the prosecutors failed to prove Mudd was aware the substances were illegal when he ordered them.

Kikuchi rejected that claim as well, citing a confirmation email Mudd received from the shop.

Mudd was not present at the sentencing. He has 14 days to appeal to Japan’s Supreme Court.

Tokyo customs officials at Narita Airport intercepted a package on Feb. 19, 2025, containing two blocks of the drug sent from the Netherlands 10 days earlier, according to the indictment.

Prosecutor Kazutaka Ikeda told the Naha court that Mudd paid about $250 for the drugs. He played a video in court showing Mudd receiving the parcel from an undercover officer.

Ikeda also submitted as evidence Mudd’s internet search history and text messages between Mudd and the website, neither of which were shown in court.

Mudd, who was assigned to Headquarters and Support Battalion at Camp Foster, Marine Corps Installations Pacific, is no longer assigned to the command and has returned to the United States, installations command spokesman Wesley Hayes said by email Thursday.

“We take these type crimes seriously and thoroughly cooperated with this investigation,” he wrote, adding that Mudd remained restricted to military installations until his departure from Japan.