Illinois resident charged for distributing MDMA on the darknet

10/07/2022Cybercrime, USA

Delon Echols, 31, of Belleville, Illinois, was found guilty of attempting to possess MDMA with the intent to distribute it by a federal jury. Echols had acquired 911 grams of MDMA on the darkweb from a supplier in The Netherlands, according to documents made public in court.

Inadvertently, Echols had sent the MDMA to a person in Mascoutah, Illinois. The victim received the package at their residence, opened it, found the drugs inside, and promptly contacted the Mascoutah Police Department.

A package of whey protein powder contained 911.5 grams of MDMA that the police department weighed in vacuum-sealed packets.

“This case serves as a great example of how a concerned member of the public working with law enforcement can help make our communities safer,” said the United States Attorney Rachelle Aud Crowe. “I join with our law enforcement partners in thanking her for her courage in coming forward. This case also demonstrates yet another way in which drug trafficking is not a victimless crime.”

A lesson to be learned

Understanding how investigators connected the package to Echols through court filings was futile. However, a clear lesson emerges from this: If you simply buy drugs on the darknet, the risk of proscecution is extremely low. But if you buy drugs on the darknet and then proceed to distribute them further for profit – your risk rises significantly. For that reason, before anyone should consider making money by selling darknet drugs, they better have their operation and OPSEC in check.

The sentence for Echols will be given on January 10, 2023.