American arrested for Fentanyl distribution on darknet markets

10/03/2022Cybercrime, Darknet News, USA

A 29-year-old Washington man was sentenced last week in U.S. District Court in Seattle to seven years in prison for drug and weapons offenses, U.S. Attorney Nick Brown announced. Nicholas Partlow sold fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine and other drugs on the darknet more than 400 times. He also sold drugs locally and possessed five firearms to support his drug trafficking. Partlow continued to sell drugs after contacts with law enforcement in 2020 and 2021. At sentencing, U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones cited a number of aggravating factors in the case, including that Partlow sold fentanyl pills labeled to look like prescription painkillers and that Partlow used the darknet’s “cloak of darkness” to maintain his anonymity.

“Darknet drug dealers like Mr. Partlow are spreading addiction and the risk of dying from an overdose across our country – all with the click of a button,” said U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. “These defendants, acting in cyberspace, do not see the death their drugs leave in their wake. We must do everything in our power to ban these deadly substances to reduce the record number of overdose deaths.”

According to documents filed in the case, postal investigators seized several packages Partlow sent to his drug customers during 2020. Inside, investigators found heroin, fentanyl pills and other controlled substances. Investigators also secretly ordered drugs from Partlow through his Darknet marketplace accounts on Vice City and Kingdom Market.

In November 2020, law enforcement obtained a search warrant for Partlow’s Issaquah residence. The search turned up heroin, methamphetamine, fentanyl, ketamine, GHB and other drugs, electronic devices Partlow used for his trafficking, and drug proceeds in the form of cash and cryptocurrencies.

Investigators also seized five firearms from Partlow, including a sawed-off shotgun and a pistol with a silencer.

After the November 2020 search, Partlow continued to deal drugs. He also attempted to purchase another firearm. In March 2021, police in Bellevue, Washington, arrested Partlow and an accomplice. Partlow was carrying narcotics and a notebook containing information about his trafficking activities. Several months later, in September 2021, Partlow crashed a car in Renton, Washington, with narcotics and a Taser. At that point, Partlow was wanted on a federal warrant. He has been in federal custody ever since.

After completing his seven-year sentence, Partlow will be released on four years of federal supervised release. He will also be required to surrender a number of items, including weapons, electronic devices, cryptocurrencies, cash and seven wristwatches.

In its request for a high sentence, prosecutors pointed to the high number of drug overdose deaths during Partlow’s time distributing drugs, calling fentanyl and the darknet “major contributors” to the overdose crisis.

“Partlow was not a simple street dealer and should not be sentenced as one,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonas Lerman wrote in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “In hundreds of darknet transactions, he trafficked in deadly drugs. By his own account, he began trafficking on the Darknet because it was ‘more lucrative’ than local trafficking.”

“Fentanyl and heroin remain a threat to our streets, but Partlow did not,” said Senior Inspector Anthony Galetti. “He believed he could exploit those affected by addiction for his own gain, but today he is learning the true price of the dangerous and deadly drugs he peddled in our communities. I commend the work of the investigators in this case who worked tirelessly to bring Partlow to justice.”

In March 2022, Partlow pleaded guilty to two felonies: conspiracy to distribute narcotics and possession of firearms in connection with that offense.