An Irvine man is set to do hard time after pleading guilty in March to selling methamphetamine on the dark web and laundering money. Tyler Reeves, 29, used the alias “Platinum45” and is said to have sold the narcotics on Wall Street Market, one the biggest dark web marketplaces at the time, beginning mid-2017 through September 2018.
United States District Judge James V. Selna sentenced the online drug dealer on Monday to ten years in federal prison.
Authorities placed Reeves among the top five vendors on Wall Street Market where he sold prescription painkillers, sedatives, stimulants and meth to nearly 300 buyers around the world. At its height, the dark web bazaar had more than 1.15 million accounts. Users typically bought drugs, malware and stolen data from 5,500 available vendors.
In April, German police arrested three German nationals accused of running Wall Street Market. Authorities also took down the servers in sacking the site. The trio now face charges both in the U.S. and Germany.
The end of Reeves’ lucrative run came months before when selling drugs to undercover law enforcement officers. According to the Department of Justice, Reeves made six transactions with undercover officers, including a one-time sale of two ounces of meth for $2,230 in cryptocurrency. He converted Bitcoin into dollars resulting in the laundering charge and conviction against him.
Multiple agencies participated in the investigation including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Services, IRS and Irvine Police Department.
When law enforcement agencies obtained a warrant in September, they raided Reeves’ Irvine home. There, they found not only meth, but 13 “ghost guns” without serial numbers and 14 such silencers.
In addition to spending 120 months locked away in federal prison, Selna also ordered Reeves to pay a $15,000 fine.
Gabriel San Román is from Anacrime. He’s a journalist, subversive historian and the tallest Mexican in OC. He also once stood falsely accused of writing articles on Turkish politics in exchange for free food from DönerG’s!