A resident of Georgia was sentenced to 135 months in prison for buying and selling Tapentadol on the darkweb.
He sold Tramadol, Etizolam and Tapentadol on dark web markets, court documents revealed.
The convict Sheldon Kennedy, 32, of Springfield, Georgia, will spend the next 135 months in prison for Possession With Intent to Distribute Tapentadol; Use of a Communications Facility (U.S. Mail); and Possession of Ammunition by a Convicted Felon, said Bobby L. Christine, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. The prison sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release.
The investigation, began in 2019 and the complaint reads:
The United States, including The United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office are investigating Sheldon Kennedy for a dark web drug distribution ring. Based on prior physical surveillance, and border searches, Agents have discovered that Kennedy is shipping controlled substances through the US Mail from the Southern District of Georgia to customers throughout the United States.
U.S. attorney Christine said: “Sheldon Kennedy clearly didn’t learn his lesson the first time he went to prison as an illegal drug distributor,…Years behind bars will protect the community from his poison.”
The U.S. attorney said that Kennedy had a prior conviction for selling drugs on the Silk Road darkweb market.
An investigation into Kennedy was started in a August 2019, by the Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office after intercepting domestic and international packages “that appeared to be related to dark web narcotics sales,”.
The intercepted packages listed a UPS P.O. box and a fake name was used as the return address. Investigators visited the UPS store where they learned that nobody under the name on the packages had rented a P.O. box at that location.
The USPS employees told the Postal Inspector that the individual who had dropped off suspicious packages also had a P.O. box at the USPS location in Springfield, Georgia. Kennedy was identified as the applicant by a copy of the application for the P.O. box. The Postal Inspector used a USPS database to identify shipments Kennedy had received at the Springfield P.O. box. After that it was determined that Kennedy had received multiple international shipments.
Postal Service comment on tramadol arrest
On September 10, 2019, HSI Special Agent Harley Snipes learned that on August 16, 2019, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officers at the John F. Kennedy Airport, New York seized a parcel from Singapore bearing a USPS International tracking number, addressed to Sheldon Kennedy at 180 Blackwater Way, Springfield, Georgia 31329. The parcel contained approximately 475 grams of Tramadol.
In addition, on September 3, 2019, CBP Officers seized an additional 400 grams of Tramadol in a parcel bearing USPS International tracking number LS850203864CH, addressed to Sheldon Kennedy, at 180 Blackwater Way, Springfield, Georgia, 31329. In addition, using postal service databases, I was able to locate images and tracking information of’ approximately sixteen (16) additional international parcels, from Singapore, Germany, and Switzerland, which were shipped to KENNEDY’s residence at 180 Blackwater Way, Springfield, GA 31329. These parcels are consistent in the nature of the seized parcels listed in paragraph 12. These parcels were all addressed to either, “Sheldon Kennedy or Mr. Kennedy.
Law enforcement seized international packages addressed to Kennedy’s alias at the UPS P.O. box. Every package contained at least 500 Tramadol pills or 500 Etizolam pills. A traffic stop was conducted on September 16, 2019 and kennedy was arrested at this traffic stop. Law enforcement officers found thousands of pills, computers, an AR-style rifle, .223 ammunition, and packaging and shipping supplies after conducting a search on Kennedys home.
Kennedy pleaded guilty to Possession With Intent to Distribute Tramadol; and the use of a Communications Facility (U.S. Mail); and Possession of Ammunition by a Convicted Felon in December 2019. Kennedy was sentenced to 135 months in prison on November 13, 2020 by a federal judge.