A Georgia man who led a massive-scale drug manufacture using the darknet has been handed a 20-year prison sentence without parole – with other co-accused persons pleading guilty and being sentenced by a U.S. District court.
The 25-year-old Walker Christian Forrester is said to have operated an illegal pill-manufacturing establishment in a drug trafficking conspiracy that led to the distribution of huge amounts of dangerous substances via the dark web.
Records intimate that the drug manufacturers in this case supplied Georgia streets with the drugs that relied on darknet platforms to source clients in the state and beyond. The illicit operation enjoyed prolonged times of successful business before federal, state and local law enforcement agencies moved in to dismantle the criminal network.
Forrester pleaded guilty to the court charges of Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute and the distribution of controlled substances, including Carfentanil, alprazolam and marijuana. The accused will also serve five years of supervised release once his prison term lapses.
More Defendants Plead Guilty
More defendants have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced in the drug manufacture case that was investigated by under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), a law enforcement undertaking that aims to destroy multi-jurisdictional drug trafficking entities.
Among the defendants in the case included 23-year-old Kolbie Hadden Watters from Augusta who was handed a life sentence, with an additional ten years in incarceration for the conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, and the illicit possession of a gun apart from engaging in a drug trafficking crime.
Jonathan Britt Lester, 23, also faced charges on the conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute drugs. He was sentenced to 210 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release as soon as he completed his time behind bars.
In addition, 23-year-old Morgan McKenzie Slaton from Georgia was handed a three-year probation sentence for drug related charges, which will be accompanied by years of supervised release.
Another individual who pleaded guilty to the court charges was 28-year-old Armand Sananda Saedi who is yet to be sentenced after he pleaded guilty to similar drug charges.
A Massive Dark-Web Drug Operation
Reportedly, court documents and testimony provided a clear picture of the drug conspiracy, which dated back to the year 2016 when the co-defendants partnered to import massive amounts of substances purchased with crypto via darknet.
According to official records, it turns out that the sentenced individuals used the dark web-bought drugs as supplies for their drug manufacture business – they employed sophisticated machinery in creating pills that would be sold online and across the State of Georgia.
Investigators revealed that the drug operation churned out more than 200,000 pills on a monthly basis, and garnered steep profits of $18,000 every month.
Further, apart from the massive returns gained through the drug operation, the main defendant in this case confessed about his involvement with a Canadian drug trafficker who used him as a link to the Chinese fentanyl supply chain.
According to Forrester’s testimony, the Canadian accomplice parted with a monthly fee of $10,000 in return for the defendant’s receipt of Fentanyl shipments sent from China – including its subsequent reshipment to locations in Canada and beyond.
Point to note, the Canadian drug trafficker is facing a federal indictment in the Northern District of Georgia.
Forrester first showed up in the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) radar sometime in the year 2017 when he bought an industrial-grade pill press. About two months following the incident, the defendant and was apprehended after law enforcement officers encountered a consignment of drugs in his vehicle during a traffic stop – including fake Xanax pills, marijuana and a shotgun.
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