A San Diego woman known as the Drug Llama has been accused of selling more than 50,000 fentanyl pills over the dark web.
Melissa Scanlan, 31, is also suspected of selling fentanyl that has been linked to the overdose deaths of a 41-year-old woman and a 10-month-old baby boy.
Scanlan, who was indicted by a federal grand jury in Illinois, is accused of trafficking fentanyl from October 22 up to August 2, 2018.
She has been charged on five counts of distribution of fentanyl, as well as one count each of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, selling counterfeit drugs, international money laundering, and misbranding drugs.
Scanlan, who is five months pregnant, will face at least 10 years in prison if convicted.
Melissa Scanlan has been accused of selling more than 50,000 fentanyl pills over the dark web, where authorities said she was known by the name ‘Drug Llama’
Scanlan has been accused of selling fentanyl to a San Diego man who allegedly left the drug within the reach of his 10-month-old son.
The baby was found unresponsive in bed by his parents, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Scanlan is also suspected of selling fentanyl to a 41-year-old San Diego woman who overdosed. Both the woman and the 10-month-old child died last September.
Authorities said Scanlan smuggled the fentanyl from Mexico and then sold it on the dark web, in a marketplace that was called the Dream Market.
She allegedly sold fentanyl pills called ‘pressed blues’ that were disguised as oxycodone and stamped with ‘M30’ on each tablet.
Scanlan also sold genuine oxycodone, amphetamine, morphine, Percocet, temazepam, flexeril, and an ‘opiate power pack’, according to Assistant US Attorney Sherri Hobson.
Scanlan is also suspected of selling fentanyl that has been linked to the overdose deaths of a 41-year-old woman and a 10-month-old baby boy
An undercover operation to nab Scanlan was undertaken by the US Drug Enforcement Administration in both San Diego and St Louis.
The Food and Drug Administration, US Postal Inspection Service, and Department of Homeland Security were also involved in the investigation.
Scanlan, 31, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Illinois on August 22. She is accused of trafficking fentanyl from October 22 up to August 2, 2018
DEA agents purchased nine items from Scanlan on the Dream Market between April and July, Hobson said.
Scanlan allegedly bragged to one agent that she could sell them 100 to 500 fentanyl pills at once.
Although the Drug Llama refused to meet in person, she offered to send the drugs in the mail instead.
Authorities were able to link Scanlan to the drug shipments after the return address on the packages were traced back to one of her old businesses.
Agents also discovered that ‘Samantha Cooper’, the sender of the packages, combined the names of Scanlan’s two dogs.
A related PayPal account also showed thousands of transactions that were linked to the drug sales.
Scanlan admitted to obtaining fentanyl from a Mexican cartel after authorities searched her San Diego home in August.
She was arrested on state drug charges that same month and released from custody a few weeks later.
Scanlan, who is five months pregnant, will face at least 10 years in prison if convicted. Authorities said she admitted to obtaining fentanyl from a Mexican cartel
Hobson said Scanlan then went back to Mexico to arrange two new deliveries of fentanyl containing 500 pills each to her house.
She also allegedly told her customers to contact her through a different dark web market.
While Scanlan was charged with distributing more than 400 grams of fentanyl in the indictment, Hobson said during a detention hearing that she has actually sold more than 50,000 pills.
WHAT IS FENTANYL?
Fentanyl was originally developed in Belgium in the 1950s to aid cancer patients with their pain management. Given its extreme potency it has become popular amongst recreational drug users.
Drug overdoses killed more than 72,000 people in the US in 2017 – 30,000 were attributed to fentanyl.
Fentanyl is often added to heroin because it creates the same high as the drug, with the effects biologically identical. But it can be up to 50 times more potent than heroin, according to officials in the US.
In America, fentanyl is classified as a schedule II drug – indicating it has a strong potential to be abused and can create psychological and physical dependence.
Hobson argued to a San Diego judge that Scanlan is a flight risk and a danger to the community, noting that she continued to engage in criminal conduct while pregnant.
Scanlan was arrested on September 6 in San Diego and will be transported to Illinois to face charges.
Scanlan calls herself an ‘Entrepreneur, Wine Enthusiast, and Future Cat Lady’ on her Facebook.
On LinkedIn she claims to be the CEO and owner of three different companies that are ‘growing fast and developing beautifully in their own unique ways’.
The companies include a consulting business and a beauty boutique that sells ‘high-quality hair extensions, professional cosmetics, waist trainers, wedding couture’, according to Scanlan’s profile.
Scanlan lists her third business as Luxury Carbon Fiber, which offers ‘handcrafted men’s carbon fiber accessories’.
She advertised products online that included money clips, leather business card holders, and laptop cases.
Undercover agents found that fentanyl pills they received from the Drug Llama arrived in the same kind of leather pouches.
Scanlan also previously worked at IriSys, a San Diego company that specialized in pharmaceutical product development and manufacturing.
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb released a statement after Scanlan was charged regarding the the agency’s ongoing fight against the opioid crisis.
‘Illegal opioid distribution and the resulting overdoses and deaths are an enormous national crisis,’ he said.
‘Our agency will continue to disrupt and dismantle illegal prescription drug distribution networks that misuse the internet at the expense of public health and safety.’