The former professional skater Evan Hernandez has been handed an 8-year-jail term for selling 2 Ibs of meth and also stealing Bitcoin and laundering it to other dark web drug traffickers. According to the Department of Justice, Evan “distributed narcotics, conspiring with drug dealers to distribute the controlled substances over one of the world’s largest darknet marketplaces” between March 2018 and March 2019.
According to the Department of Justice, here is how it all went down.
A former professional skateboarder was sentenced today to 97 months in federal prison for selling nearly two pounds of methamphetamine and laundering Bitcoin for the darkweb operations of other drug traffickers.
Evan Jaime Hernandez, 35, of Long Beach, was sentenced by United States District Judge David O. Carter.
Hernandez pleaded guilty in June 2021 to one count of distribution of methamphetamine and one count of laundering of monetary instruments.
According to court documents, from at least March 2018 to March 2019, Hernandez distributed narcotics, conspiring with drug dealers to distribute the controlled substances over one of the world’s largest darknet marketplaces.
Hernandez not only supplied drugs that were sold over the darknet by drug dealers such as William Glarner IV, 36, of Irvine, but he also distributed drugs on his own. Glarner pleaded guilty in June 2019 to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and is serving a 10-year prison sentence for that offense.
In March 2018, Hernandez sold approximately 895 grams (1.97 pounds) of methamphetamine for $5,000 to an individual whom he thought was a money launderer, but who was working with federal law enforcement at the time.
Hernandez also was responsible for laundering Bitcoin for darknet drug trafficking operations. Hernandez utilized the services of an individual – the same one working with law enforcement – to exchange Bitcoin into cash. Hernandez conducted four Bitcoin-to-cash transactions with the individual, including the exchange of approximately 7.95 Bitcoin for $50,000 in September 2018. By using cryptocurrency and an unlicensed exchanger to liquidate the proceeds, Hernandez intended to conceal the source and ownership of the drug proceeds.
In total, Hernandez conducted four Bitcoin-to-cash exchanges that totaled approximately $171,300.
This sounds bad, but eight years still seems like a pretty stiff penalty for someone who obviously was just a low-level guy in a big-level operation.
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