Glendale man sentenced to 13 years in prison for drug trafficking on darknet
Jan 9, 2022, 7:00 AM
(Pixabay Photo)
PHOENIX — A Glendale man was sentenced last week to more than 13 years in federal prison for his participation in a darknet drug trafficking operation, authorities said Friday.
Jacob Matthew Medina, 29, was sentenced 160 months after previously pleading guilty to conspiring to possess fentanyl and heroin with the intent to distribute, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona said in a press release.
An investigation of the darknet vendor “Ghost831,” who was advertising heroin, methamphetamine and oxycodone, was launched in November 2018 by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, according to the release.
A federal search warrant was issued to Medina’s residence on March 4, 2019 after authorities identified drug packages mailed by the vendor.
He admitted to having 502 grams of counterfeit “M30″ pills containing fentanyl, over a pound of heroin, $31,000 in cash, customer lists, a firearm and packages of tracking numbers in his residence.
Federal authorities said one of the customers on his list died from a drug overdose.
“Mr. Medina profited off of numerous individuals addicted to opioids with his fentanyl-laced pills,” Inspector in Charge Melisa Llosa, of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, said in the release.
“He utilized the dark web, mistakenly thinking he could outsmart the authorities.”