Man charged with importing heroin from Kenya in picture frame

Chicago man has been charged with trying to take possession of heroin concealed in a picture frame he had had shipped from Kenya to the downtown hotel where he worked, court documents show. Taiwo Obayemi, 34, of the 5100 block of South Blackstone Avenue in Chicago, was arrested Wednesday near his home after the picture frame had been shipped to his work place, the W Hotel, 644 N. Lake Shore Dr., according to a federal criminal complaint against him filed today. U.S. Homeland Security agents investigated six packages supposedly containing picture frames or framed prints sent to the hotel from a children’s home in Nairobi, Kenya. The last one, which Obayemi eventually was arrested with, had been sent with a little less than 5 ounces of heroin concealed in it, according to an affidavit filed in the case by a Homeland Security drug agent. Five previous shipments, which also were made via DHL, went from the children’s home in Nairobi to fictitious people at the W Hotel starting in November 2011, according to the agent. Federal agents intercepted the sixth package in Cincinnati, Ohio, on May 31. About 4.75 ounces of heroin were found in the frame and the frame was sent on to Chicago, where agents took the heroin out and replaced it with fake heroin. The frame was sent on to the W Hotel, where Obayemi eventually took it and was driven by someone else to his neighborhood, according to the affidavit. When Obayemi got out of the car, agents approached him, and when they identified themselves as police, he began to run and dropped the package, according to the complaint. After his arrest, Obayemi told agents he had a person in Nigeria send the packages to him, and told agents “he accepted the illegal package because of greed and the things he wanted,” according to the affidavit. Text messages to and from Obayemi indicate he was dealing heroin and discussing the price of the drug with customers. In an interview with one of the people who received deliveries at the W Hotel, agents were told that Obayemi had received about five packages in the last year similar to the one he received Wednesday. Obayemi was convicted in 1999 of possessing heroin with intent to distribute and conspiracy to import a controlled substance, and sentenced to 87 months in prison, according to the affidavit. He was released from federal prison in 2004, according to U.S. Bureau of Prisons records. Court information for Obayemi was not available Friday night. The general manager of the W Hotel said in an email that "The hotel continues to cooperate fully with the police on their investigation," but referred all questions "to the authorities."