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.

Comments

uh...

[drinkypoo]

Handel faces up to 20 years in prison for drug trafficking and up to life for using and possessing a firearm.

No. For using and possessing a firearm in the commission of a crime. Using and possessing a firearm is not itself a crime.

Re:uh...

[catsRus]

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

Re:uh...

[drinkypoo]

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.

Re:uh...

[drinkypoo]

Look at Colorado. Legalized marijuana and the Mexican gangs are moving in to supply cheaper product.

Ah yes. The Mexicans. What has the result of US foreign policy towards Mexico? What has been the result of US drug policy towards Mexico? Don't be ignorant. If we legalize drugs at the federal level, then most of the problems with Mexico will solve themselves in relatively short order as the money being used to fund the drug war dries up.

Here's the deal.

You can stick that deal up your arse, it will be in good company with your massive fucking ego. You're not in a position to dictate terms.

Re: uh...

[cas2000]

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.

Re:uh...

[careysub]

Right, because legalizing something instantly removes the criminal aspect. Look at Colorado. Legalized marijuana and the Mexican gangs are moving in to supply cheaper product.

Citation please? I did some Googling to confirm this claim, but found nothing supporting it. The claim itself is odd, how is there more money to be made in a legal regulated market?

I did find this however. The story asserts that Mexican gangs are getting involved in the Colorado pot business for money laundering since it is a cash only business. In other words, they aren't really selling pot, only pretending to do so to legalize money from other sources.

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. Banks and payment processors won't take their money or the Feds will drop the hammer on them. In other words, the Federal government is creating this business opportunity by prohibiting normal business practice. If you prohibited any other business from using banks, forcing them to be cash only, the same thing would happen.

Re:uh...

[PopeRatzo]

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.

Life for Firearm Possession?

[KermodeBear]

Handel faces up to 20 years in prison for drug trafficking and up to life for using and possessing a firearm.

So... He gets 20 years for trafficking substances across international borders that will rot your brain out, but he can get life for possessing an item for personal protection? Which item was doing more damage to society? It wasn't the firearm.

I know, I know... People like to tack on + as if having one or not having one changes what was in the first place. Thing is, it doesn't.

Rob a convenience store without a gun and take all the money: Store has an empty drawer.
Rob a convenience store with a gun and take all the money: Store has an empty drawer.

The end result is the same. Saying that it is somehow worse is such a farce.

Re:Life for Firearm Possession?

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Life for Firearm Possession?

[penguinoid]

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.

That would only happen if the store owner is *threatened* with the gun. If the crook simply had the gun hidden on his person, the end result would have been the same whether he had the gun on him or not. Of course, a crook simply carrying a gun does increase the chances that he'd panic and shoot someone. On the other hand, a crook using a knife instead has a much higher risk that some idiot will get himself killed playing the hero because "it's only a knife".

Of course, a life sentence for merely carrying a gun seems like begging for said gun carrier to start using it.

Freedom Will Not Be Tolerated

[Anonymous Coward]

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!

Re:Freedom Will Not Be Tolerated

[circletimessquare]

because the biology of addiction was invented in the 1900s, right?

oh, and look, the opium wars, drug pushers weakening and subjugating an entire civilization:

http://www.sacu.org/opium2.htm...

but nahhh... until the 1900s the world was a utopia of drug use with no downside, right?

you really should educate yourself, on basic pharmacology and history, before you comment on a topic

or your words only serve to show how ignorant you are on a topic

the simple fact is, ever since groog wanted to drown his sorrows in fermented fruit all day instead of carry his weight in his tribe, drugs have been a problem

the drug addict, since even before we had fully evolved as humans, to today, and as long as we exist, is a weakness

it creates people who cannot support themselves. this is why society has to intervene

i'm not saying our current interventions work. the usa drug policy is fucking stupid. but because our methods suck doesn't mean the problem isn't real

portugal for example has much better *tactics* in the war on drugs (healthcare for addicts, prosecute pushers)

but the war on drugs has been going on forever, and will go on, forever

it's simply a maintenance function of civilization

if you don't understand that drug use costs us all, or don't admit, you're a fucking moron on this topic

if you deny that not everyone uses them responsibly, if you deny that many become addicts, you don't understand a fucking thing you are talking about

drugs will always be a problem. because people *always* misuse them

START with that thought, then you can say something intelligent about drug use and drug policy

Re:Freedom Will Not Be Tolerated

[gweihir]

Except that it actually is true. Sure, drugs did damage, but significantly less than they do now because they were clean and affordable. And the number of junkies was not higher. The "war on drugs" has done exactly nothing to reduce usage in the about 100 years it has been running. It has done tremendous additional damage though. Maybe have a look into some history text some time?

Re:Freedom Will Not Be Tolerated

[AK Marc]

The quest to prevent misuse (by force) is worse than the alternative.

Using a Firearm According to the Supreme Court

[Etherwalk]

He might have already been a convicted felon, and if he was then even possessing it could be a felony.

  I wonder if the definition of use is a matter of carrying the firearm while engaging in an illegal activity (ie, drug trafficking and distribution) even if his intention in carrying the firearm was to prevent someone from mugging him and taking the cash he had on his person.

The Supreme Court actually reversed *all nine* of the Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal on the issue of whether simply carrying a firearm during the commission of a felony was enough to prosecute them for "using" the firearm. It was kind of a landmark case. That being said, Congress just amended the law to make carrying the firearm during the commission of a felony an additional offense.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Re:Using a Firearm According to the Supreme Court

[ShanghaiBill]

But that additional offense is a 5-year "enhancement" of the other sentence. Nowhere does that say anything about "life". So I'm wondering where the life sentence supposedly came from.

Here is a link directly to the prosecutor's statement. They claim the penalty for possessing a firearm while trafficking drugs is "5 years to life". Either way, he has already accepted a plea bargain, so it is likely in the low end of that range.

He was dumb. He took a gun with him to pick up the package at the post office. Was he really planning to have a shoot out over a $4800 package? Don't carry a gun unless you are prepared to use it. He shouldn't have even picked it up himself. Instead he should have paid some underage kid to do the pickup.

Re:Using a Firearm According to the Supreme Court

[Jane Q. Public]

Here is a link directly to the prosecutor's statement. They claim the penalty for possessing a firearm while trafficking drugs is "5 years to life". Either way, he has already accepted a plea bargain, so it is likely in the low end of that range.

That is just reinforcement of my general point. In recent years the Federal government has been notoriously dishonest, and prosecutors have famously lied to judges all over the place. There are at least a few cases of judges getting really pissed off about this, and imposing sanctions on the offending prosecutors. But such cases have been too rare, in my opinion.

I say that in part because we had a local government prosecutor who basically refused to prosecute cops for any reason, except in a few exceptional cases in which he really had no choice. Thank goodness he is now gone.

Re:Using a Firearm According to the Supreme Court

[gweihir]

A main characteristics of a Police State is that they can prosecute and lock up anybody for as long as they want, often with some window-dressing "procedure" and paperwork that is basically a malicious construct. Currently they are perfecting their methods on people that actually have done something wrong in the eyes of the general population (which has no clue about ethics and is mostly controlled by propaganda), but the next step, which they already have started to implement, is to put away anybody they do not like. In the end, the law will either be completely corrupted or completely meaningless. One idea behind juries was to prevent that, but as juries are not at all selected at random in practice, that protection is easily circumvented.

Re:Using a Firearm According to the Supreme Court

[Aighearach]

So, your assertion about the future is based on what, exactly? Crystal Ball? Oracle of Delphi? Genuine tin-foil time machine?

Re: Apropos of nothing...

[Frosty Piss]

Actually, most Post Offices are owned by private individuals and leased back to the Government for use. As such, the building itself is legally exempt of the Federal Building restrictions and regarded much the same as any other private establishment. There have in fact been court cases regarding this, especially those regarding people getting injured at the property and the actual owners being liable rather than the USPS, establishing precedent. Brandishing a firearm in a threatening manner in a public location or threatening a federal employee is another matter, and carries with it quite severe penalties though.

Almost complete bullshit.

While most US post ofices are in leased buildings, they are still federal facilities.

Please, as an experiment, "open carry" a shotgun into a post office, and tell me how that works out for you?

Re:Be careful not to justify government corruption

[PopeRatzo]

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.

glad to know judge got 28 federal years, until 85

[raymorris]

I just read a bit about that. I'm glad to know the judge got sentenced to 28 years in federal prison, which actually means 28 years (unlike state time). He won't get out until he's 85, if he lives that long. Being a corrupt judge in federal prison, I suspect he'll be dead long before he gets out. Federal inmates tend to dislike corrupt judges, and federal inmates sometimes do bad things to people.

Re:glad to know judge got 28 federal years, until

[Electricity Likes Me]

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.

Mexican gangs and "cheaper" Colorado pot

[swb]

Look at Colorado. Legalized marijuana and the Mexican gangs are moving in to supply cheaper product.

I've heard the prices at Colorado pot stores are high (or maybe less cheap than some predicted), but they also (at least according to the media) are doing great business.

I don't doubt that Mexican gangs could smuggle in field-grown average quality pot, but who would bother with street dealers when you could walk into a retail store and buy much better product without any risk?

I don't see the retail operators risking their livelihoods supplying themselves this way, and at least the way it's portrayed in the media many of them have their own grow operations so they can offer their own varieties, ensure a stable supply, etc.