David Ryan Burchard, a 40-year-old Merced, California resident who for years sold illegal substances over the dark web and amassed over a million dollars in Bitcoin, has been sentenced to six years and eight months in prison by the U.S. Chief District Judge Lawrence J. O'Neill.
The announcement was made by the U.S. Department of Justice last week.
Burchard's sentencing took place concurrently with that of Emil Vladimirov Babadjov, a 33-year-old man of American and Bulgarian nationality who was also prosecuted for selling drugs on the now-defunct AlphaBay marketplace.
The two drug vendors carried out their trade on various darknet markets, including Silk Road, AlphaBay, Agora and Abraxas.
Burchard Was the 3rd Largest U.S.-Based Drug Vendor
Prior to his arrest in March 2016, Burchard was high on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's most-wanted list.
On Silk Road, he began selling drugs under the screen name "Caliconnect." He was ranked the 18th largest drug vendor on Ross Ulbricht's original Silk Road and the 3rd largest U.S.-based drug seller on the dark web.
The Merced resident lived in a small apartment with his wife. Despite the fact that neither of them held a job, they managed to pay $1,350 in rent per month.
Upon closer investigation, the FBI discovered that the 40-year-old was receiving large deposits in his bank account on a regular basis. Both Burchard and his wife had been unemployed for more than seven years, so naturally this raised some flags.
According to prosecutors and federal evidence, Burchard specialized in the sale of marijuana and cocaine. He received payment in Bitcoin and shipped the items through post offices in Merced and Fresno counties.
A Department of Justice press release in August 2017 estimated that the convicted drug dealer had made sales of more than $1.4 million on Silk Road alone.
Silk Road Data Helped Nab Drug Lord
After the demise of the Silk Road, Burchard continued to peddle his wares on AlphaBay, another giant dark web marketplace. Here, he rebranded his handle to "caliconnect4life."
Burchard's arrest was greatly aided by data seized from the Silk Road after it was raided by the FBI and eventually shut down.
According to the FBI, Burchard's Silk Road login password, "asshole209," is what made it possible to catch one of the U.S.'s biggest dark web drug vendors.
Following his arrest, the police raided his home in Merced and seized property worth hundreds of thousands, including a Jaguar and a Mercedes S63 estimated to be worth over $100,000.
Surprisingly, Burchard had turned his dark web moniker, "Caliconnect," into a brand name. The police found several t-shirts sporting the name in his house.
Burchard pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute and conspiracy to distribute marijuana on the dark web in August 2017.
It remains unclear what role the Silk Road data played in the arrest and conviction of Burchard. Still, the FBI investigators were confident that Burchard would have ended up in their custody one way or another.
His arrest was credited to a joint operation by Homeland Security, the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Fresno Police Department.
The 40-year-old dark web dealer is expected to surrender to the FBI in April to begin his sentence.
Fentanyl Dealer "Blime-Sub" Also Put Behind Bars
American-Bulgarian Emil Vladimirov Babadjov was sentenced to 70 months in prison in a separate case. The 33-year-old operated on various darknet markets but was mostly active on AlphaBay where he sold heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl.
Like Burchard, Babadjov relied on the postal service to deliver packages to his clients. Prosecutors say that he used a post office in San Francisco to ship drugs to his U.S. customers.
He was nabbed in October 2016 after undercover agents made a purchase of heroin from him. The parcel, which was received at a post office in the Eastern District of California, contained a concoction of heroin and fentanyl.
Babadjov pleaded guilty to distributing controlled substances and was later sentenced to serve prison time.
The Demise of AlphaBay Was Significant
Both convicted men had been proficient drug vendors on AlphaBay at one point.
With the closure of AlphaBay last summer, law enforcement agencies marked a significant victory in the war against drugs, which was moved to a virtual plane by the emergence of the dark web market Silk Road in 2011.
The data obtained from AlphaBay after its closure could lead to more arrests in the coming days and months.
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