Authorities have apprehended a Nebraska pharmacist after it was discovered that the 41-year old from Auburn had hatched a plan with a darknet drug dealer to firebomb a rival pharmacist thereby aiming to get rid of their competitor to allow their illicit business to thrive.
Hyrum Wilson, the suspect in this case, is reported to have moved thousands of prescription pills from his legitimate pharmacy business to a darknet operator who would sell the drugs via an online pharmacy in the hidden web.
Wilson was arrested on April 17 on charges of a conspiracy to firebomb and obliterate the rival pharmacy including charges for a guns-related offense.
Working with a Darknet Business
Authorities have intimated that Wilson ran his own licensed business called Hyrum’s Family Value Pharmacy, but sent consignments of prescription medicines to William Anderson Burgamy IV – a darknet drug operator that ran a dark web vendor account in Empire and Apollon markets using the name NeverPressedRX.
Reportedly, Burgamy registered impressive sales on the dark web and unknowingly sent packages of oxycodone and the amphetamine Adderall to undercover law enforcers at the beginning of the year 2020.
On testing, the FBI confirmed that the medicines supplied by darknet operator matched those that had been advertised online. It is until Burgamy was arrested on April 9 on charges of the illicit distribution of controlled drugs and money laundering – that agents learned about his involvement with Wilson as the supplier to his dark web business.
It was revealed that while Wilson supplied Burgamy, his pharmacy business was affected by the existence of a prescription wholesaler. It is at this point that Wilson and Burgamy resolved to hatch a plot to firebomb the rival pharmacy in a bid to enable Wilson’s business to stand as the only legitimate pharmacy in town.
Inside Operation Firewood
A press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia detailed the firebombing plot that was hatched against the rival pharmacy in Auburn, Nebraska.
The document further intimated that the decision to destroy the rival pharmacy was pegged on the belief that Wilson’s pharmacy would increase the volume of prescription medicines to be obtained, only if it remained as the sole business in the area.
In this respect, an increase in the volume of drugs within Wilson’s portfolio would mean that the two men would realize a flourishing business environment in their benefit, and thus the drug trafficking operation would exponentially expand to meet a growing demand for controlled substances.
It is alleged that the two men named the firebombing plot “Operation Firewood” – an operation that was planned to involve the employment of Molotov cocktails to burn down the target business. Additionally, law enforcement agents learnt that Burgamy was also prepared to arm himself with guns that were seized by agents following a search warrant on his house.
Wilson is alleged to have established getaway maps and routes to assist Burgamy to escape the scene after the firebomb attack.
According to an FBI affidavit, the success of the investigation on the firebombing plot was credited to a notebook labelled “NPRX Private” with the journal entry “Top Priority”, which lifted the lid on the weeks of communication between the two men.
Court Charges and Possible Life Imprisonment
Business between Burgamy and Wilson lasted between August 2019 and April 2020, a period that saw Wilson receiving payments in Bitcoin, wire transfers and mailed cash.
Based on Wilson’s charges, the man faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if he is found to be guilty of the crimes of conspiring to use fire and explosives and illegally distributing prescription medicines – including the guns-related crime.
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