One of the many suspects arrested in a 2018 law enforcement investigation targeting dark web vendors was sentenced to ten years in prison this month.
San Francisco resident Brian Gutierrez-Villasenor fulfilled orders for the darknet vendor account "JetSetLife," operating on multiple marketplaces.
He was arrested last year in an operation that involved 100 coordinated law enforcement actions nationwide targeting individuals suspected of drug trafficking on the dark web.
The operation culminated in 70 search warrants, 35 arrests and the seizure of massive amounts of narcotics.
Gutierrez-Villasenor's 120-month prison sentence was delivered earlier this month in a San Francisco court.
The Arrest of 'JetSetLife'
Gutierrez-Villasenor was apprehended last year after an undercover agent purchased drugs from the JetSetLife vendor account.
The agent requested an order of cocaine listed as "Peruvian Mother Pear."
The package went through the U.S. Postal Service and safely arrived at the address the undercover officer left for the vendor.
Shortly thereafter, investigators found that Gutierrez-Villasenor was the one who sent the package. He was arrested May 17, 2018 and charged with cocaine distribution.
10-Year Sentence for Drug Distribution
According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California, Gutierrez-Villasenor was distributing drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine to buyers of JetSetLife.
The operators of JetSetLife would give him orders to fill and would wire him money as compensation.
This continued for several years until Gutierrez-Villasenor was arrested.
Last November, Gutierrez-Villasenor pleaded guilty to charges of transporting monetary funds to promote illegal activity and possessing with intent to distribute more than 50 grams of methamphetamine.
In his guilty plea, Gutierrez-Villasenor admitted he received over $575,000 for distributions between October 2014 and April 2018.
On April 12, Gutierrez-Villasenor was sentenced to 10 years in prison and an additional five years of supervised release, plus a fine of $40,000.
