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Silk Road Drug Dealer Pleads Guilty After Federal Sting

Ars Technica reports that A 26-year-old Columbus, Ohio man has pleaded guilty to selling drugs through the Silk Road website. David Lawrence Handel apparently obtained methylone and other drugs from a supplier in China, which he then sold to buyers on the online black market. Among those buyers were Maryland federal agents, who were making undercover purchases. Handel shipped the drugs to them through the US Postal Service, according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland. ... Handel faces up to 20 years in prison for drug trafficking and up to life for using and possessing a firearm. His sentencing is scheduled for May 15.

7 of 215 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Life for Firearm Possession? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Tell that to the store owner who goes through the psychological trauma of having a gun pointed in there face, many people are seriously fucked up after such incidents. The difference between the two incidents for the victims is massive.

  2. Freedom Will Not Be Tolerated by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    How dare he supply drugs to people how make a concious choice to buy and use them!

    Free choice should not be permitted! The government must dictate to us what we can do with our own bodies and how we should live our lives! Furthermore, they should closely monitor us to make sure we are following their instructions.

    It's for our own good!

  3. Re:uh... by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So he "used" a firearm thru the internet or thru the mail, pretty neat trick. The IoT is more interesting than I thought. :)

    He carried it on him while he was doing the rubber meets the road part of his business, and that's using it in the commission of a crime these days. Society's logic goes like this: He wouldn't have been carrying the weapon, nor would he have been risking wanting to use one to protect himself, if he hadn't been transporting illegal goods for commercial gain. Of course, there is also a certain amount of logic to the view that if those substances weren't illegal, none of that shit would have been going on at all, and society not only wouldn't have been risking gun violence but also would be able to tax whatever economic activity did occur. Arguably, it's the state that has created the dangerous situation.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  4. Re: uh... by cas2000 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    no, your government bans drugs because it's a useful way of suppressing blacks, mexicans, chinese, hippies, dissidents and other undesirables.

    it's also a great way of disenfranchising them from their vote when posession is treated as a felony.

  5. Re:Be careful not to justify government corruption by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yeah, states with Republican governors have been going balls-out for privatized prisons. They're the worst idea yet in an economic system that's seen a century-long string of bad ideas. How anyone could think that it was smart to have private industry run prisons is just beyond me. And I'm not talking about some contractors brought in to provide food service, but that the entire prison would be a for-profit industry is just insane.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  6. Re:uh... by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And why is Colorado pot a cash only business? Because Federal pressure prevents them from using the same payment processing and banking systems other legal businesses use.

    This is an important point. The inability of legal pot dealers to access banking services is one of the things guaranteeing that criminality will remain in the industry.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  7. Re:glad to know judge got 28 federal years, until by Electricity+Likes+Me · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This attitude is part of everything that's wrong with the prison system. The idea that prisoners should be relied upon and expected to met out additional extrajudicial punishment to other prisoners. The idea that prison rape is "ok" because it's happening to other prisoners.