Woman Buys Drug From Darkweb With Bitcoin, Faces 4 Years in Prison

Jamie Marie Robertson, a 32-year-old woman charged for unlawful use of a communications facility, pleaded guilty in the Lubbock federal court. Robertson will face up to four years in prison for her key role in the distribution of fentanyl on the darknet, a powerful synthetic opiod analgesic that is 100 times more potent than morphine, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

For over 12 months, Sydney Caleb Lanier, the leader of the fentanyl trafficking ring cracked down by local authorities and intelligence agencies in October of 2016, acquired powerful drugs, mainly fentanyl and furanyl fentanyl from China through the dark web using bitcoin.

Stocks of fentanyl acquired by Lanier were passed along to Robertson and her wife Jessica Holl, who bought fentanyl off Lanier and stored the stocks of drug in their apartment. Using their apartment as a distribution center, Robertson and Holl began to sell fentanyl to local buyers in the city of Lubbock, Texas.

Currently, Holl is under investigation led by the Lubbock local police. Local authorities are focusing on unraveling Holl’s involvement in possesing fentanyl with the intent to distribute, as based on the plea of Robertson, Holl could potentially be dismissed if the police can’t offer necessary evidence that Holl stored fentanyl to sell the drug within the region.

The Lubbock fentanyl distribution case became a major investigation in the state of Texas after the local police reported the deaths of many drug addicts that have passed away due to overdose of fentanyl. Local police are attempting to establish connections between the the fentanyl trafficking ring involving Holl, Lanier and Robertson and the deaths of these individuals.

If the police successfully finds any evidence linking the deaths of many fentanyl addicts to the two convicted criminals, Holl will have a far less likely possibility of being dismissed from the case.

As of current, the local police firmly believes that an evidence will emerge that will link the involvement of Holl with the drug trafficking ring and distribution center. Already, a dealer who worked for Holl and Robertson for the entirety of their fentanyl-darknet operation revealed that Holl was in charge of the sales if Robertson wasn’t around.

Just last week, DeepDotWeb reported that 23 men and women were arrested by the Drug Enforcement Agency for distributing fentanyl from 12 locations throughout Boston and the South Coast area. For this particular operation, the DEA went as far as wiretapping communication devices of the suspects to discover details of their operations, route of distribution and method of sales.

Throughout the US, law enforcement agencies including the DEA and the FBI are becoming increasingly more active in the crackdown of fentanyl operations and distribution centers. Based on the reports of US law enforcement agencies, police are trying to intensify their investigation in fentanyl operations due to the drug’s high level of Toxicity.

The court document read:

“While fentanyl can serve as a direct substitute for heroin in opioid-dependent individuals, it is a dangerous substitute as it is 50 times more potent than heroin and results in frequent overdoses that can lead to respiratory depression and death. Cheaper than heroin, fentanyl can be ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the skin; just a few milligrams, equivalent to a few grains of table salt, may be deadly.”

While it is difficult to speculate the sentencing of Holl, in consideration of the 20-year prison sentence and US$1 million fine Lanier received for her major role in the drug trafficking ring, Holl will likely receive a similar sentence to her wife Robertson.