Bethlehem arrest sheds light on ‘dark web’
After his fiancee died taking drugs that came in the mail, a Florida man took investigators to the “dark web” store where he ordered them.
The investigation that unfolded over the next four months led federal agents to the door of a Bethlehem man who allegedly sold the substances that caused the woman’s death.
Jeremy P. Achey’s arrest last month on federal drug charges revealed a possible Lehigh Valley node in a global network of drug dealers moving the trade from the streets to a hidden part of the internet. He was one of 40,000 vendors, prosecutors say, in the dark web’s largest marketplace, where users could anonymously buy illegal drugs, stolen credit card information, firearms and computer hacking tools before federal authorities, working with law enforcement around the world, seized it this month.
But other dark web bazaars exist and more are likely to spring up, presenting an ongoing challenge for authorities. The transactions are anonymous and difficult to trace and, law enforcement officials say, they’re a more accessible source for fentanyl and similar powerful narcotics that are fueling the opioid overdose epidemic.
“It has opened up certain types of drugs to users who might not have been predisposed to use them,” said Dusty Cladis of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, noting that online sales eliminate the need to meet a dealer face-to-face and remove the fear of being arrested.
The potency of drugs such as fentanyl, up to 100 times stronger than morphine, means they can be distributed in small quantities that are easily mailed. That makes them available in places where drugs might have previously been hard to buy.
“It’s going to college campuses and military bases — places where it might be hard for traditional hand-to-hand drug transactions to occur,” Cladis said, adding that the locations include small communities that street dealers haven’t reached.
Carnegie Mellon University researchers tracked purchases in 35 dark web marketplaces and estimated in 2015 that the markets had $300,000 to $700,000 in transactions every day.
Achey, 43, allegedly operated his store in a dark web marketplace called AlphaBay, which served more than 200,000 users before it suddenly and mysteriously winked out of existence July 4. On Thursday, the Justice Department announced an international operation to seize AlphaBay’s servers and arrest its founder, Alexandre Cazes, a 25-year-old Canadian living in Thailand. AlphaBay’s front page was replaced with the message, “This hidden site has been seized,” beneath the seals of the Justice Department, FBI and DEA.
(At a hearing earlier this month, Achey’s attorney argued that the government’s evidence against Achey was deficient and that the charges should be dismissed. Federal public defender Catherine Henry said the packages were labeled “not for human or veterinary use” and “They can’t prove at any time he had knowledge ... they were being used for human consumption.”)
Cazes, who was charged with racketeering, conspiracy to distribute narcotics and other offenses, killed himself while in custody July 12, the Justice Department said. But prosecutors in California, where Cazes was charged, are pursuing the civil forfeiture of luxury vehicles, homes, a hotel and millions of dollars in virtual currency owned by Cazes and his wife.
The investigation linked alleged AlphaBay vendors, including Achey, with numerous fatal overdoses across the country, the Justice Department said in a news release about the Alpha Bay takedown. In addition to the Florida woman who died in February, the DEA is investigating whether another 19 overdose deaths are attributable to drugs purchased from Achey’s store, court records say.
This month, a man who lives in Darby, Delaware County, was charged with distributing a controlled substance resulting in death in connection with two fatal overdoses in Portland, Oregon. Federal authorities say he imported 14 packages of suspected fentanyl from China and sold more than 7 kilograms — about 15 pounds — of the drug through an AlphaBay store for $284,000. Court documents say investigators believe Achey also received at least some drugs from a supplier in China.
Federal investigators say Achey sold drugs under the online alias ETIKING. University of Indiana criminology professor Bill Mackey said ETIKING’s store was typical of thousands of dark net stores around the world.