Busted: XanaxKing

http://concord-ca.patch.com/groups/police-and-fire/p/xanax-king-of-martinez-among-9-charged-with-making-counterfeit-drugs-laundering-money84239

Federal prosecutors announced today that nine people have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Oakland on charges of manufacturing counterfeit prescription drugs, money laundering or both.

U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag said six of the defendants were arrested in various East Bay locations on Wednesday and made initial appearances before a federal magistrate in Oakland today.

The 11-count indictment was issued under seal on May 22 and unsealed after the court appearances today.

One of the drugs allegedly counterfeited is Xanax, an anti-anxiety medication made by Pfizer Inc. Its generic name is alprazolam.

The lead defendant is Jeremy Donagal, 35, of Martinez, whose nickname is allegedly "Xanax King," according to the indictment.

He is charged with all 11 of the counts, including two counts of conspiring to manufacture alprazolam and other controlled drugs, one count of manufacturing such drugs, two counts of intending to sell alprazolam, and one count of selling counterfeit alprazolam tablets stamped with a phony Pfizer trademark.

Donagal is also accused of two counts of international money laundering related to wire transfers of cash to China and three counts of structuring the Western Union transfers in amounts of less than $3,000 to avoid a federal reporting requirement.

Donagal pleaded not guilty to the charges before U.S. Magistrate Donna Ryu, who ordered him held in custody while awaiting a detention hearing on June 5. Seven of the other defendants also face some of the drug charges and in some cases money laundering counts as well.

The ninth defendant, Alicia Mitts, 30, is accused only of the structuring counts. Ryu granted her release on $50,000 bail today while awaiting trial.

The magistrate ordered four others who were arrested Wednesday to remain in custody while awaiting future detention hearings.

They are Laurence Lindberg, 42; Thomas Elliott, 39; Michael Tomada, 42; and Christopher Neely, whose age was not given.

Haag said one other defendant, Kenneth Koskiniemi, 37, was arrested in Fresno and appeared in federal court there Wednesday afternoon.

Duston Kirk, 38, is a fugitive and defendant Michael Gonzalez, 41, is in state custody on another charge, Haag said.

--Bay City News


Comments


[48 Points] shasazzazmmm:

shit shit shit i have 10,000 bars coming straight to my doorstep!!!

good thing i live on a house boat vrooooommmmmmmmmm


[36 Points] None:

oh san fran police, you so silly! what will you think of next! ... they posted this to the silkroad forum after seizing his account on the 23rd...

Quote from: xanax king is back on Yesterday at 12:57:00 am 5/28 IMPORTANT UPDATE- FOR ANYONE THAT ORDERED BEFORE FRIDAY MAY 23, IF YOU HAVE NOT RECIEVED YOUR ORDER YET, MESSAGE ME. Dont mesage me here on the forums, message me on SR or since its down right now message me on Agora plz. It is hard for me to answer messages onthe forums so please message me on SR or Agora.

"It turns out one of my shippers was stealing packages. So some people will not be getting their orders. Obviously he has since been fired. If you have not received your order, send me a message ASAP with the address again, and i will reship your order with 20% extra for problems this causes you. Anyone whos orders went out this week are not affected, if your order was shipped tues or wednesday you dont need to message me."


[35 Points] _-________________-_:

LE is allegedly in control of his Agora account ... (Agora forum link)

Stay away. Stay far away.


[29 Points] possiblemxevendor:

I bet pfizer put more money into busting this guy than the D.E.A did or any other government agency. This guy was just asking for it. Yes, lets piss off one of the richest companies in the world by manufacturing a counterfeit product that they produce. I am all about these markets but seriously, you are stepping on the toes of one of the worlds biggest pharma companies. Do you honestly think they are going to let this go on? Xanax or alprazolam is Schedule 4 which is like not even on the D.E.A radar unless you have a massive operation like this. Glad I never ordered from him.


[23 Points] Dunavo:

So this was Xanax King all along?

Not how I imagined him.


[20 Points] None:

Controlled delivery executed on a few people as a result of this :

http://www.wbiw.com/local/archive/2014/05/police-recover-approximately-15000.php

a few golden rules broken here :

  1. Growing Pot in a drop location

28-year-old Carlos Allen accepted a similar parcel at the Clark Street address. He was arrested along with 32-year-old Paul Furto. Police also found that Allen and Furto had been growing a small number of marijuana plants in a closet. Allen was arrested on preliminary charges of dealing a controlled substance and maintaining a common nuisance. Furto is faces a preliminary charge of maintaining a common nuisance.

  1. Admitting that you know whats inside the packages Crider says, Furto, Dickey and Feigel admitted to police that they knew the packages contained Xanax pills.


[12 Points] None:

annnnd theres this http://www.reddit.com/r/SilkRoad/comments/26uk5q/how_do_i_contact_sr_support_i_think_xanax_king/


[11 Points] _Boogie_:

It's always sad and terrible to see a top vendor fall like that =(

Stay safe everyone.


[9 Points] Newuser8585:

Am I the only one asking themselves where they are going to get bars as cheap an the quantity that he had??


[9 Points] None:

I am not the smartest person in the world, But if it were me I would assume that if I ordered anything from him I am compromised. Don't care if it was one bar or 10000, last week or last year. Know one knows whether or not his OPSEC was up to par. Paranoid or not, i know my ass would be flushing, burning and cleaning. Not to mention if I had any "large orders" in route or already delivered I would be calling the closest drug attorney and setting up a meeting. Don't think that just because you only ordered 50,100 pills that your safe. There are enough LE agency local and on state level that have NOTHING better to do than come pay you a visit for a knock and talk. OPSEC should be number 1 priority.


[6 Points] None:

DEA POST http://www.justice.gov/dea/divisions/sf/2014/sf053014.shtml


[5 Points] tr8cevue:

I haven't read anything about his case yet. But openly counterfeiting a pharmaceutical makes a big target out of you. These companies (such as Pfizer) have their own in house investigative teams of ex LE. They have nearly unlimited resources and when they've made a case they simply hand it over to LE.


[5 Points] galaxyandspace:

Allegedly Xanax King

So we aren't sure yet? Hmmm...

If this is true, I would love to know how he got caught...


[5 Points] None:

[deleted]


[6 Points] MDProfessional:

Other SR / DNM recent busts:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-silk-road-arrest-matthew-jones-20140530,0,4475833.story

http://www.timminstimes.com/2014/05/21/timmins-police-reveal-enormous-meth-bust


[4 Points] 13tom13:

police shouldn't be able to pretend to be drug dealers like that. Hope the guy doesnt get to long, damn drug war


[3 Points] tempthrowawayaccount:

A few local guys got busted for recieving a package of 16k xanax from Cali here. In midwest. Positive it is connected.


[2 Points] None:

Second article. http://www.mercurynews.com/my-town/ci_25861423/contra-costa-nine-charged-massive-xanax-drug-operation


[2 Points] gwern:

See also http://www.reddit.com/r/SilkRoad/comments/26vqp1/xanax_king_is_done/


[2 Points] C0nnman:

Any word on any of his buyers getting busted?


[1 Points] None:

[deleted]


[1 Points] joustingthesky:

Man, shit's getting kinda scary out there with Xanaxking and all the recent busts/controlled deliveries linked to in the comments below. But it looks like these were all pretty damn big vendors and/or bulk. Still not many personal use buyer busts/CD's that I know of.


[1 Points] DOZENS_OF_BUTTS:

Any word on how he got caught?


[1 Points] KillerCoyote:

Sooo...I ordered 100...a measley 100 from this guy..ordered day after supposed bust...it was marked shipped Tuesday...still haven't recieved package though....I already cleaned house and really expecting a CD...do you think they'll even bother though with such a small purchase? Either way I'm assuming my address is compromised no matter what.


[1 Points] itouchmyselfeveryday:

who is the new xanax bulk go to guy? I have a family to feed :((((


[1 Points] mreJ:

crazy story. weird that it didnt state anything about what they confiscated though....be interesting to see the bulk xanax he had!


[1 Points] None:

[deleted]


[-4 Points] possiblemxevendor:

I am just going to go on a little rant here.

I am sure some people will miss this guy, and yes he provided a great service. But WHY THE FUCK would you want to counterfeit xanex like this. Some of the charges he is facing are directly related to him just putting the brand name on the tablet. If he would of just pressed alprazolam tablets he probably could of stayed off the radar a bit longer. But your going to go around selling like probably tens of thousands of COUNTERFEIT PHARMACEUTICALS that one of the largest companies in the world produces. That's like setting up shop trying to sell kilos of blow to the columbians. These people have resources like a mother fucker. I bet pfizer was throwing a fucking fit for months to the D.E.A to get these things off the streets.

I understand the criminal mind. I always just figured if your going to do something illegal, to try and be as LOW FUCKING KEY about it as possible. You dress normal in real life. You blend in with society. The real gangsters are the ones that you look at and you can't even tell what they do for a living! This guy was going toe to toe with the biggest pharma company in the USA. I am sorry, But I don't feel bad for this guy at all.


[-4 Points] plurblur:

Get popular attract heat. So why the fuck are we trying to make the whole scene as popular as possible with subs like this?