A man from Virginia, has admitted to selling methamphetamine through multiple vendor accounts on the dark web markets Empire and Cryptonia.
Dat Nguyen pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 500 grams of a substance containing methamphetamine. He admitted to doing this through the darknet vendor account “addy4cheap,” He sold thousands of pressed Adderall pills that contained methamphetamine claiming they contained amphetamine.
According to the United States Office of Attorneys for the Eastern District of Virginia, He started operating on the darkweb in May 2019. Three months after he started selling, undercover agents started making controlled purchases of drugs from the vendor account controlled by Nguyen. The undercover agents conducted a total of 20 controlled purchases from addy4cheap on Empire and Cryptonia, between August 2019 and December 2019. In total, the agents purchased as much as 767 grams of methamphetamine.
According to court documents:
To avoid detection, the defendant’s co-conspirators mailed drug parcels that did not have their true names and addresses listed as the return information, deposited those parcels at various United States Parcel Service (“U.S.P.S.”) collection boxes in the Eastern District of Virginia, handled packages in a manner to avoid leaving fingerprints, and operated in the late evening or early morning hours. Packages mailed by the defendant’s co-conspirators resembled those obtained through controlled purchases made by law enforcement through “addy4cheap.”
Law enforcement searched the houses of people involved in the trafficking operation. Houses searched belonged to Lein Kim Thi Phan, Tyler Phan and Hon lam Luk. Law enforcement seized more than 6,000 counterfeit Adderall pills that looked like those advertised by addy4cheap on dark web markets.
Addy4cheap had completed 3,665 sales on Empire Market and received 2,568 reviews, as of December 10, 2019. Investigators made calculations and agreed that addy4cheap distributed 44,872 adderall pills for approximately $482,572.10.
Five of the co conspirators have already entered guilty pleas in connection with the drug trafficking conspiracy. One of the co conspirators has not been found and is on the run.
Sentence for selling Adderall
For selling adderall on the dark web, Nguyen faces a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years in prison. His sentence hearing is scheduled for March 23, 2021. Tactics used by law enforcement in the investigation was not revealed apart from the controlled purchases.