A former professional skateboarder from California was sentenced on Wednesday, January 19, to eight years in federal prison for selling drugs and laundering Bitcoin with other drug traffickers on the dark web.
According to the Long Beach Press-Telegram, 35-year-old Evan Jaime Hernandez was sentenced to federal court in Santa Ana after pleading guilty to one count of distribution of methamphetamine and "laundering of monetary instruments" in June.
The Department of Justice says Hernandez admitted to distributing the narcotics from at least March 2018 to March 2019. He also admitted to conspiring with other dealers based in Orange County to distribute drugs over one of the world's largest darknet marketplaces.
Over one year, Hernandez worked sold methamphetamine to a person he believed was a money launderer four different times, totaling an estimated $171,000 in Bitcoin-to-cash exchanges.
The person was actually working with federal law enforcement at the time, according to the Press-Telegram.
“(Hernandez) was involved in a highly sophisticated drug-trafficking operation, where he personally took on various roles to ensure its success: obtaining multiple types of narcotics, selling them directly to customers, and laundering money on the back end in a sophisticated manner,” prosecutors said in court documents.
Hernandez was also ordered to forfeit a 2010 Mercedes-Benz, $35,000 in cash, and various jewelry pieces to the government.