Irvine man who sold drugs over the darknet sentenced to 10 years in prison

A 29-year-old Irvine man was sentenced this week to 10 years in federal prison for selling narcotics on a darkweb marketplace where he was listed as a top vendor, federal prosecutors said.

Tyler Reeves pleaded guilty in March to distributing methamphetamine and money laundering. Reeves sold prescription painkillers, stimulants and sedatives on a darkweb marketplace known as Wall Street Market, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Three German nationals were arrested and charged last month by the U.S. Department of Justice with running the bazaar, where users sold illegal narcotics, counterfeit goods and malicious computer hacking software.

Reeves, who used the name Platinum45 online, was one of the top five vendors on Wall Street Market, prosecutors said. He sold narcotics to nearly 300 customers around the world, according to prosecutors.

Undercover law enforcement officers made six purchases from Reeves, including one transaction in which Reeves shipped 2 ounces of methamphetamine in exchange for $2,230 in virtual currency. Reeves was also charged with money laundering for accepting the cryptocurrency Bitcoin as payment and converting it into U.S. money.

Law enforcement officers found methamphetamine, oxycodone, 13 un-serialized firearms and 14 un-serialized silencers when they executed a search warrant at his residence, prosecutors said.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service and Internal Revenue Service investigated the case.

Prosecutors have called Wall Street Market one of the world’s largest darkweb marketplaces. It operated in six languages with about 5,400 vendors selling illegal goods to about 1.15 million customers around the world, according to federal prosecutors.

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