Los Angeles County Woman Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Distribute Heroin, Methamphetamine, and Cocaine on the Darknet

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Catherine Stuckey, 27, of Woodland Hills, pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

According to court documents, from June 2018 through May 2019, Stuckey conspired with others to operate several darknet vendor accounts, including “RaiseAppeals” on Dream Marketplace, “Diablow” on Silk Road 3.0, and “RaisedByDiablow” on Nightmare Marketplace. Through these accounts, Stuckey and her co-conspirators sold large quantities of heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine to customers throughout the United States. Law enforcement searched the residences of Stuckey and her co-conspirators on May 16, 2019. Stuckey possessed more than 23 kilograms of methamphetamine, 1.9 kilograms of heroin, and 2.7 kilograms of cocaine.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Northern California Illicit Digital Economy Task Force (NCIDE), composed of agents from Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and IRS Criminal Investigation. The NCIDE Task Force is a federal task force focused on targeting all forms of darknet and cryptocurrency activity in the Eastern District of California. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Grant B. Rabenn and Paul Hemesath are prosecuting the case.

Stuckey is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez on Oct. 20. Stuckey faces a maximum statutory penalty of life in prison, a 10-year mandatory minimum, and a $10 million fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.