Fentanyl dealers described by the Department of Justice as being among the dark web’s most prolific sellers of the deadly synthetic opioid have pleaded guilty to charges related to peddling drugs on sites including Silk Road and AlphaBay.
Matthew and Holly Roberts of San Antonio, Texas, pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to multiple counts brought by prosecutors as part of “Operation Darkness Falls,” a multiagency investigation into criminal activity occurring on the dark web, a difficult-to-police portion of the internet where narcotics can be bought and sold using cryptocurrency from online marketplaces akin to Amazon.
Responsible for dealing a wide rage of drugs online using aliases including “MH4LIFE,” prosecutors previously called the couple “the most prolific dark net fentanyl vendor in the United States and the fourth most prolific in the world,” making their arrest in April a major step in curbing the public’s supply to a substance at the center of the country’s opioid epidemic.
Operation Darkness Falls placed the Robertses, each 35, at the center of an online drug ring being conducted out of multiple locations in San Antonio, including a 3-bedroom home in a residential neighborhood and an extended-stay hotel roughly nine miles to the north, the latter serving as a “staging area” used by the couple for conducting business, prosecutors said previously.
Federal agents raided both locations on April 25, took the Robertses into custody and seized evidence implicating the couple in several years’ worth of shadowy cybercrime, including drugs and detailed notes outlining their operation, according to court documents.
The investigation began months earlier with U.S. Postal Service and Department of Homeland Security officials conducting an undercover purchase of methamphetamine from “MH4LIFE” through the “Dream” marketplace. Authorities received the drugs within days in a package bearing a return address in Texas, and a search of postal records revealed that the same address appeared on more than a dozen different parcels that wound up in the same USPS collection box near San Antonio.
Authorities placed additional orders from the dealer on the dark web while monitoring factors including their online activity and shipping habits, though their biggest break arguably came when investigators were able to identify and interview a USPS letter carrier who recalled being handed several parcels bearing a return address found on several packages sent by “MH4LIFE.”
The mail carrier said they received the parcels by a woman in her 30s at a particular residence in San Antonio, and a search of utility records for that address ultimately led investigators to both defendants - Holly Roberts, and a man authorities suspected of being her husband. Investigators subsequently began conducting surveillance around the address, and the Robertses were soon witnessed moving in and out of the residence and a room at the nearby InTown Suites.
USPS and DHS agents ultimately raided both locations on April 25, nearly a week after receiving the mail carrier’s tip, and recovered fentanyl, heroin, meth and cocaine, among other drugs, in addition to evidence linking the couple to the Dream market and the “MH4LIFE” vendor, including pieces of paper containing account details, passwords and shipping information.
Investigators concluded the couple used dark web marketplaces to buy and sell drugs between since at least 2011, including on Dream as well as similar, defunct markets including Silk Road and AlphaBay, among others.
Altogether the couple participated participated in a total of 3,100 sales involving illegal narcotics across multiple dark web marketplaces, according to prosecutors.
“MH4LIFE had the highest number of verified transactions worldwide of any fentanyl vendor based upon a review of Dream,” the Justice Department said in a statement when the Robertses’ arrest was announced in August.
The couple pleaded guilty in Cleveland federal court before Magistrate Judge Thomas M. Parker to more than a dozen criminals counts apiece ranging from conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, to advertising drugs sale online, and was scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 7, 2019.
“My client, Holly Roberts, accepts full responsibility for her actions, and expresses sincere remorse. She now wishes to put this dark chapter of her life behind her and looks forward to the day that she can reunite with her children, her family and friends, and become a productive citizen,” defense lawyer Greg Robey told The Washington Times.
An attorney for her co-defendant did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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