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Press Release

Dark Web Drug Trafficker Sentenced to 160 Months in Federal Prison

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Florida

Miami, Florida – A federal district judge in West Palm Beach, Florida sentenced a 26-year- old Arizona man to 160 months in prison for selling crystal methamphetamine, cocaine, and other illegal drugs on the dark web to buyers across the country, including South Florida.   

From 2018 to 2020, Jose Rodolfo Barraza Flores advertised and sold crystal methamphetamine, cocaine, M-30 pills (fentanyl-laced Percocet pills), and other narcotics through vendor accounts that he established on darknet marketplaces like White House Market, Empire Market and Yellowbrick Road.  Once a buyer placed an on-line order and paid for it with bitcoin, Barraza Flores would mail the illegal drugs to the buyer.  To avoid detection, Barraza Flores concealed the narcotics inside wax candles, which he melted, molded, and packaged inside a trailer in Arizona. 

In October 2021, Barraza Flores pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and three counts of distribution of a controlled substance.  U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon imposed the sentence.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Miami; Joseph W. Cronin, Inspector in Charge, United States Postal Investigation Service (USPIS), Miami Division; and Deanne L. Reuter, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Miami Field Division announced the sentence.

FBI Miami, USPIS Miami, and DEA Miami investigated the case, with assistance from their Phoenix counterparts.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Aurora Fagan is prosecuting the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney William Zloch is handling the asset forfeiture aspect of the case.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 21-cr-80029.

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Contact

Marlene Rodriguez
Special Counsel to the U.S. Attorney
Public Affairs Officer
USAFLS.News@usdoj.gov

Updated January 11, 2022

Topic
Drug Trafficking