A 22-year-old Tumwater man has been sentenced to four years in prison for his scheme to distribute ecstasy via the dark web, announced U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes. The defendant, Tristan Simpson Brennand, was arrested in December 2015, following an investigation that revealed he was distributing ecstasy on hidden websites such as “Agora” and “Evolution.”
Those websites were modeled after the Silk Road website which was a marketplace for illegal substances. U. S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik imposed three years of supervised release to follow the prison term.
“The dark web provides drug dealers and other criminals with the 21st century equivalent of hidden corners and back alleys,” said U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes. “Drug dealers think they can use the dark web to hide their tracks and make a living off the misery of others. What this case demonstrates is that the dark net isn’t really “dark” to law enforcement.
According to records filed in the case, Brennand came to the attention of law enforcement in January 2015 with reports he was dealing drugs on various websites. In March 2015, law enforcement executed a court-authorized search warrant on Brennand’s residence and seized MDMA (Ecstasy), $33,000 in cash, scales and other drug dealing paraphernalia. Law enforcement also recovered various electronic devices which contained evidence of Brennand’s online drug dealing.
Following Brennand’s arrest in December 2015, he admitted ongoing drug use and was referred for treatment. When Brennand reported to the treatment facility, he had Xanax, MDMA, and Suboxone strips that he apparently planned to sell to others seeking treatment at the facility.
Even after Brennand was removed from the treatment facility and taken to the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac, he continued to direct a woman outside the prison to collect his drug debts and attempt to smuggle illegal drugs into the facility.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Washington State Patrol. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas Woods.
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Key Facts
- State: Washington
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Fraud & Financial Crimes|Violent Crime|Cybercrime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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