Brittainy N. Baker, Anabolic Steroid Distribution, Missouri 2016

A Kansas City, Mo., woman has pleaded guilty to her role in a $2.25 million conspiracy to sell anabolic steroids over the Internet. Brittainy N. Baker, 29, of Venice, Calif., pleaded guilty before U.S. Chief District Judge Greg Kays to participating in a conspiracy to manufacture and distribute anabolic steroids from December 2011 to February 2016.

In a separate but related case, Michael G. Peters, 29, of Pelham, New Hampshire, was sentenced today to three years in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Peters to forfeit to the government $2.25 million, which was derived from the proceeds of the illegal drug trafficking.

Conspirators operated an Internet-based company, Power Trip, which sold various anabolic steroids to customers (including athletes and minors) throughout the United States. Conspirators required customers to pay for the steroids by using various debit cards. Customers used names and account numbers for these debit cards that were provided by conspirators.

The conspirators used stolen identities to produce or obtain debit cards, such as Green Dot MoneyPak, MyVanilla, ReloadIT, NetSpend ReloadIT and BlackHawk. They required their customers to send payments to these cards in order to conceal and disguise the proceeds of the illegal transactions.

The investigation revealed that Baker assisted in the operation by transferring over $9,000 in funds via Western Union from the United States to China to purchase raw materials utilized in the manufacture of anabolic steroids. Baker further assisted in the operation by collecting the proceeds from the illegal drug sales from customers.

Baker allowed her accounts (including Green Dot, Paypal, Bancorp, and US Bank) to be used for customer to make payments for the purchase of anabolic steroids. Baker received customer funds loaded to her Green Dot and Banccorp in excess of $30,000. Baker also received customer funds loaded to her Paypal account in excess of $35,000.

Baker assisted Schweidler by making cash deposits of drug proceeds in his bank account, purchasing postage for shipping anabolic steroids to customers and by dropping off packaged anabolic steroids for shipment at U.S.P.S. locations in Kansas City. In exchange for Baker’s services, Schweidler paid her a percentage of the proceeds collected and an amount per package she shipped.