Pennsylvania Grand Jury Indicts an Alphabay Carfentanil Vendor

A grand jury indictment from August 1 accused an Alphabay vendor of conspiracy to distribute two drugs, along with the distribution of another three. The vendor, a Florida resident known as “Gman19635” on Alphabay and Robert M. Gilner by the United States government, faces a maximum sentence of a lifetime in prison, and a mandatory minimum based on his priors and other external factors.

A federal grand jury in the Western District of Pennsylvania indicted Gilner on August 1 for crimes committed only months prior. Assistant United States Attorney Shardul S. Desai announced the charges on August 7. The grand jury indictment alleged that the St. Petersburg, Florida man committed the several, if not all of the crimes, in the state of Pennsylvania.

They accused him of conspiring with others in Philadelphia to distribute more than 400 grams of carfentanil and a quantity of fentanyl. This occurred in the Western District of Pennsylvania and “elsewhere.” He also, on March 10, distributed an unannounced or unknown quantity of methamphetamine. And on March 22, according to the indictment, he sold carfentanil and ecstasy, both in unknown quantities.

As is customary in these cases, the investigating involved the FBI, USPIS, Homeland Security Investigations, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The US Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Pennsylvania announced another fentanyl bust on August 9. Four Pittsburgh residents were charged with conspiracy to possess fentanyl with intent to distribute in a Criminal Complaint filed the same day. Acting United States Attorney Soo C. Song revealed that at 6 a.m that morning, ICE, HSI, USPIS, and local police raided the home of Anthony Lozito, one of the four suspects. During the raid, “one of the suspects,” somehow, “overturned a table” that sent fentanyl into the air, exposing 18 police officers to the drug. All 18 were rushed to the hospital.

Authorities would not reveal which one of the suspects “overturned” the table. The officers must have rushed the house immediately after sending tear gas through the window as a neighbor reported that the men exited the house after the grenade landed. He watched the entire ordeal and made no mention of officers being rushed off the scene.

Officers reported feeling dizzy after the fentanyl exposure, according city public safety spokeswoman Sonya Toler. Authorities refused to reveal whether or not hospital staff or law enforcement officials administered Narcan. (All eighteen of the exposed were part of the Swat team and carried Narcan.)

“Quick and professional action by first responders helped avert a potential catastrophe,” Acting United States Attorney Soo C. Song said.

All four received the usual possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute charges. One, in an August 8 indictment, was charged with possession of a fentanyl analog with intent to distribute. He ordered a package from a supplier in Hong Kong that contained 100 grams of two different fentanyl analogs.

The incidents officially share no more than the fentanyl analogs, indictments within a few days of each other, and Pittsburgh. However, they do demonstrate an example of law enforcement’s focus on fentanyl.