Altcoin News: Five US Citizens Receive Prison Sentences for Selling Drugs for Crypto
August 29, 2019, by Marko Vidrih on ALTCOIN MAGAZINE
In the United States, five people were sentenced to imprisonment of 5 to 20 years for selling drugs for cryptocurrencies in darknet markets.
Wyatt Pasek was sentenced to 17.5 years in prison for selling fake opioid tablets. Kevin Dean McCoy, Sylvester Ruelas, Amber Worrell, and Peggy Gomez also received prison sentences for selling heroin, meth, and cocaine in the darknet markets. According to court reports, the defendants used cryptocurrencies to conclude transactions.
In November last year, Pasek pleaded guilty to engaging in a conspiracy to sell drugs, money laundering and illegal possession of firearms, the prosecutor’s statement said. Pasek agreed to confiscate $21,000 in cash, a gold diamond necklace, diamond watches, two gold bars and thousand dollars in BTC and other cryptocurrencies.
McCoy, Ruelas, Warrell and Gomez have also pleaded guilty to money laundering through cryptocurrency exchanges. Authorities seized silver and platinum ingots, an AK-47 assault rifle, a 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun and a 50-gauge sniper rifle from the convicts. Convicts sold drugs through the darknet markets AlphaBay, Hansa and Dream Market, which allowed for transactions using cryptocurrencies.
“Drug traffickers using the dark web feel a sense of security with the anonymity to sell their poisons throughout the world,” said Doug Coleman, special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration adding:
“This investigation clearly demonstrates they aren’t safe, they aren’t anonymous, and they can’t evade justice.”
Recall that this week, a resident of Los Angeles, Kunal Kalra pleaded guilty to the sale of methamphetamine and the organization of a money-laundering scheme through bitcoin for $25 million. An earlier, another US citizen also received a prison term for selling drugs for cryptocurrencies.
Author: Marko Vidrih
