Sold LSD from Perceived Anonymity of the Dark Web
A 38-year-old Tacoma, Washington man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to five years in prison for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, announced U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes. ALLEN D. LINT sold drugs via the so-called Dream Market Darknet marketplace between May 2016 and September 2017. When law enforcement served a search warrant at LINT’s residence they found more than 3600 doses of LSD as well as a variety of materials used to process Darknet orders from around the country. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle imposed five years of supervised release to follow the prison term.
“This defendant was a 21st century drug dealer," said U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes. “From the anonymity of the dark web, he filled more than 1700 drug orders for customers who paid with cryptocurrency. Despite his special encryption software and other efforts to hide his criminal conduct, law enforcement was able to unmask his identity and hold him to account."
According to records filed in the case, LINT was identified by law enforcement after his address was uncovered in multiple other Darknet investigations. From as far away as Philadelphia investigators discovered drug shipments to LINT’s Tacoma address. When law enforcement served a court authorized search warrant on LINT’s residence, they found a variety of controlled substances, a scale, packaging material, materials reflecting a full-scale shipping operation, and a drug ledger indicating dozens of customers. Law enforcement also seized significant amounts of precious metals, cash, and multiple digital devices - all of which were forfeited pursuant to the court’s order.
LINT was indicted in April 2018, and pleaded guilty in September 2018 to conspiring with the administrators of Dream Market darknet marketplace to distribute LSD and other controlled substances.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas Woods and Special Assistant United States Attorney Joe Silvio. Mr. Silvio is an attorney with Homeland Security, specially designated to prosecute drug trafficking cases in federal court.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
