Police Busted NYC Synthetic Drug Dealer

Law enforcement authorities arrested a suspect who was allegedly running two websites where he had sold synthetic “research drugs” to his customers. Police reported that one of the suspect’s sales resulted in the death of a Wisconsin man.

Brian Parker, of New York City, was arrested by law enforcement authorities on August 26. The suspect allegedly ran a drug lab in his apartment, advertising the synthetic narcotics on two different websites. According to the news publication The Daily Beast, Parker disguised the drugs as “research chemicals” and sold them to his customers for bitcoins, Amazon gift cards, and Hotels.com vouchers.

The New York City Police and the DEA raided the Queens apartment, arresting the suspect and an accomplice. It was reported that, since the apartment was a drug lab, the investigators wore Hazmat suits during the raid. Federal authorities announced the charges against Parker on August 29, saying that he allegedly used to sell synthetic designer drugs disguised as laboratory materials, which resulted in the death of one of his customers.

Parker allegedly ran the RCPowders and UnbeatableChems websites offering his customers a wide range of synthetic opioids and hallucinogens. Both sites had disclaimers stating “the chemicals/materials/peptides for sale here are intended for laboratory and research use only, unless otherwise explicitly stated. They are not intended for human ingestion, use, or for use in products that may be ingested.” However, this did not stop his customers from purchasing drugs from him, which led to disaster in multiple cases.

Keith Caison of North Carolina told The Daily Beast that his son overdosed from a synthetic substance similar to heroin, which he bought from one of Parker’s websites. He told the magazine that police were all over his apartment because of the drugs. However, when Mr. Caison asked the police whether they will prosecute the seller, they told him that the sale wasn’t against the law.

“That’s how [Parker] gets by with this. He sells it as experimental drugs, not really heroin or anything like that … He’s changing the chemistry so they can be sold as an experimental drug,” Mr. Caison said.

According to The Daily Beast, Parker doxxed the customers who did not pay for their orders and uploaded their personal information on the “wall of shame”.

The magazine reported that several users on Reddit complained about the quality of the drugs sold by Parker’s pharmacy. It is possible that the quality of the narcotics contributed to the unfortunate overdose of a 37-year-old Wisconsin man.

In May 2016, the 37-year-old was found unresponsive at his home. The autopsy report showed that his death’s cause was an overdose, a combined effect of the powerful synthetic opioid U-47700 and the liquid sedative “etiz”. Law enforcement authorities found the vials and the package along with invoices from the UnbeatableChems.

Investigators managed to trace back the return address on the parcel to a P.O. box in New Jersey. The postal box was on Parker’s name, which pointed investigators in the right way towards the suspect. Law enforcement started monitoring Parker’s Reddit page where they had discovered that the suspect was living in New York City since he mentioned his location multiple times in different posts.

Twice in June 2017, Parker made posts that he is transferring his inventories to a “business associate”, Victoria Koleski, 29, of New Jersey. After the second post, investigators hid outside of Parker’s Queens apartment. They spotted the suspect leaving with a garbage bag, which he dropped at Koleski’s home. On June 30, law enforcement witnessed Koleski dropping the items of the garbage bag to the mail in a post office. When investigators examined the packages, they contained the synthetic substances PCP and A-PVP.

In late July, undercover investigators placed three orders at Parker’s store, paying with a money order form, which the suspect later cashed in under his own name.

With all the evidence gathered, law enforcement raided Parker’s apartment on August 26. As he is facing multiple federal charges, if found guilty, he could face several years of imprisonment.

“It’s about time,” Mr. Caison said after Parker’s arrest. “I wish he’d just come see me. He’s selling drugs to kids.”