http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2017/09/atlanta_promoter_sentenced_in.html
An Atlanta man was sentenced to a little more than a decade in prison Tuesday for conspiring to distribute thousands of ecstasy and molly pills at raves and music festivals across the Southeast.
Woodie Louis Ochle, 40, led Atlanta-based Freakstep Promotions, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama Jay E. Town said. According to a court testimony, Ochle's organization distributed MDMA, also known as ecstasy or molly, to people who attended the concerts and dance events he promoted. Towne said Ochle was charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute the drug in Jefferson and Shelby counties between February 2015 and April 2016. He was also charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute the drug on April 13, 2016. Ochle plead guilty to the charges in April 2017 and was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison.
"Woodie Ochle unlawfully enriched himself through an illicit drug network he devised at the expense of young people," Town said. "Ochle is among our worst offenders because his exploitation of a combination of youth and willfulness, underscored by his criminal greed, created both addicts and victims. We have bed space reserved in our Bureau of Prisons for Mr. Ochle and those like him."
Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Postal Service learned about the operation during a 2016 investigation into the large-scale smuggling of various controlled substances from Europe into the U.S. via mail. On April 7, 2016, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized two inbound packages at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, court documents state. Authorities found 1,000 "Red Supreme" ecstasy pills in each package. One of the packages was addressed to 38-year-old Kenneth Howard in Chelsea and the other was addressed to 31-year-old Jennifer Petitjean in Bessemer.
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and U.S. Postal inspectors were contacted. Authorities said ALEA and the inspectors arranged controlled deliveries of the packages. Those deliveries led to subsequent controlled deliveries of the drugs to Howard's cousin, 28-year-old Kevin Pederson, and to Ochle, who was identified as the leader of the drug-trafficking organization.
A controlled package was also delivered to 22-year-old Shawn Perkins in Birmingham, where authorities said Petitjean was receiving the deliveries. The seized drugs seized from Pederson's vehicle and apartment, which included the packaged pills, additional ecstasy pills, Xanax pills, molly, LSD, cocaine and marijuana, were destined for Spring Weekend in Panama City Beach, Florida.
Law Enforcement seized 30 pounds of illegal drugs, including about 20,000 pressed ecstasy pills and four pounds of crystal molly. Pederson, Perkins, Petitjean and Howard all pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute MDMA. All of them await sentencing accept for Howard who received eight weekends in custody.
Jesus friggin Christ. A decade in prison for selling something people want to buy.