OSWEGO, N.Y. -- The State University College at Oswego student found with more than 800 Xanax pills and $170,000 cash last week told police he stopped selling drugs in order to focus on final exams.
Dylan C. Soeffing
Dylan C. Soeffing, 21, told police he stopped selling marijuana and Xanax in April, thus ending a drug business that spanned more than a year and a half and netted Soeffing more than $170,000.
He wanted to focus on finals and graduation. After graduation, he wanted to pursue a master's degree and live life, he told police. He'd been trying to stop selling drugs for the past year, but the money was too lucrative, he told police. On April 22, he made his final deposit from marijuana sales: $8,500.
On May 14, the Oswego County Drug Task Force raided the first-semester senior's 210 Fifth Ave. apartment. Inside, they found 809.5 Xanax pills, a small amount of marijuana and more than $170,000 cash.
The small amount of marijuana found was a far cry from the pounds of marijuana he told police he'd been selling since the fall of 2013. In a statement he gave Oswego and state police, Soeffing said at its highest point, between December 2014 and early April, he bought and sold three to four pounds of marijuana weekly.
The Greece, N.Y. native used Bitcoins, an Internet currency, to purchase the drugs and had them shipped to Oswego, he told police.
Soeffing first learned about Bitcoins in the spring of 2012. At first, he invested in the currency itself, which was worth about $6 per coin in January 2012, according to coindesk.com.
In the spring of 2013, one of his fraternity brothers told him about the Darknet. Darknet, part of the Deep Web, a portion of the Internet not accessible through Google, Yahoo! or other search engines, is an online anonymous marketplace where drugs, weapons and other illicit items are sold.
By the fall of 2013, Bitcoins were going for more than $1,000 each and Soeffing was making money buying and selling the currency. Soeffing told police in his statement that he wanted to make extra money selling cheap marijuana to his friends and fraternity brothers.
It was around that time that he began using the Darknet, in particular a website called Agora Market, to buy marijuana using Bitcoins. He told police he was buying a quarter-pound of marijuana at a time for around $650 from a seller named "MoodyMayhem," whom Soeffing did not know.
Soeffing told police he would go to the post office and pick up the packages of marijuana.
Before winter break after the 2013 fall semester, he opened a checking account at the Bank of America in Central Square. Soeffing told police he would deposit the money he made investing in Bitcoins and selling marijuana. He'd then wire the money to Bitstamp or Coinbase, both websites where he could purchase Bitcoins.
Using the Bitcoins, Soeffing purchased more marijuana, he told police. The scale of his operation "rapidly grew" in order to meet demand, Oswego police Sgt. Aldo Bonacchi said.
By December 2014, Soeffing was buying three to four pounds of marijuana a week from the same Darknet seller, he told police. Soeffing had moved to his new Fifth Avenue apartment around this time and continued picking up the packages at the post office.
The marijuana was coming from the west coast, Bonacchi said, where medical marijuana is legal and generally more potent than what is grown locally. Using the Darknet to have drugs shipped to buyers has been "extremely popular" in Oswego since the drug was legalized on the west coast, Bonacchi said.
At the time he gave his statement to police on May 14, Soeffing was awaiting delivery of eight pounds of marijuana, he said. At no point did the post office tip off Oswego police to Soeffing's habitual package pickups, Bonacchi said.
Soeffing sold marijuana to about 10 people, he told police. After Soeffing picked up a new package, they'd immediately come to his apartment and pick it up. They paid in cash and Soeffing never gave a loan.
After Soeffing noticed fraudulent activity on his Bank of America account, he closed the account. He ended up opening another account at the same bank, but closed that shortly after as well. Eventually he moved his money to Chase Bank in Oswego, he told police.
Both banks were "super-cooperative" during the investigation, Bonacchi said.
This spring, business flourished. During the spring semester, Soeffing made about $100,000, he told police, and about $170,000 since the end of the fall 2014 semester.
Those numbers would have been closer to a quarter-million dollars had he not had about $80,000 stolen from him this year. Since February, Soeffing was the victim of six theft attempts, of which four were successful, he told police.
"I wish I knew more," Soeffing told police in regards to the thefts. "But it is one of those situations where you want to know but don't want to know."
Soeffing first dabbled in Xanax sales in January, when a man he knew named Mark asked him to order about $5,000 worth of the prescription drug for him, he told police. Mark was wanted by police and left to go to California to sell marijuana, but would pay Soeffing before he left, Soeffing told police.
Soeffing used the Darknet market to buy the drugs from a seller named "Benzoman," he told police.
But Mark left Oswego before the Xanax arrived, leaving Soeffing with the pills. Soeffing began selling the pills for $5 a piece to friends and told them he was looking to get rid of the pills. He sold about 80 pills, he told police.
Through means Bonacchi would not elaborate on, police found out that Soeffing was selling marijuana and Xanax.
Armed with a search warrant, the Oswego County Drug Task Force, with help from the state police Financial Crimes and Computer Crimes units, executed a search warrant at Soeffing's apartment around 12:45 p.m. on May 14.
Soeffing was charged with fifth- and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. Additional charges could be forthcoming due to Soeffing's additional illegal drug activity, Bonacchi said.
In 2011, Soeffing was charged with damaging the sprinkler system at Riggs Hall while playing football in the hallway, causing several rooms to flood, the Oswegonian reported.
Oswego police are not investigating any Greek organizations in connection with Soeffing's arrest, Bonacchi said.
SUNY Oswego spokeswoman Julie Blissert said any disciplinary proceedings against Soeffing or the fraternity are generally not public information, in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
Contact Jacob Pucci: Email | Twitter | 315-766-6747