A California man has been sentenced to more than two years in prison for selling the illegal depressant etizolam over the internet.
Paul Z. Lamberty, 52, of Folsom, Calif., was sentenced on May 30, 2025 by U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to 30 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.
Lamberty pleaded guilty on August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of the introduction of misbranded drugs with the intent to defraud and mislead.
He operated websites Encern.com and Ohmod.com and used those sites to sell the drug etizolam to customers throughout the United States, including Massachusetts. Payments for etizolam through those websites could only be made through cryptocurrency and it was shipped to customers through U.S. Priority Mail.
According to court documents, in 2020, a Massachusetts customer of Lamberty’s website purchased and ingested etizolam and died as a result.
Lamberty conducted gross sales of over $550,000 of etizolam through the internet during the course of the conspiracy.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had not approved etizolam for use as a drug, and thus it could not be sold or prescribed in the United States.
Key Facts
- State: Massachusetts
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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