Australian Man Sentenced for Selling Ecstasy on the Darkweb

An Australian man was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to distributing MDMA on the darkweb.

Paul Rodgerson, 42, of Melbourne, Victoria, was sentenced in Victoria’s County Court for his role in a drug trafficking ring that sold MDMA and ecstasy pills stamped with a “Flying Kangaroo” logo on several darkweb marketplaces including, AlphaBay and Dream Market.

Investigators traced the blue dye found in the ecstasy pills to purchases made by the duo.

The FBI estimated that Rodgerson and his partner Robert Olczyc sold more than 3,130 pills to more than 72 different buyers and earned more than $32,000 from the sales. Rodgerson and Olczyc operated from a factory in Moorabbin, Melbourne. The duo used the factory as the production, storage, and distribution center for its drug trafficking operation. Olczyc manufactured the pills while Rodgerson managed the vendor accounts and processed their buyers’ orders.

The Australian Federal Police raided the factory on November 23, 2016. The raid resulted in the seizure of 200 ecstasy pills, 300 grams of MDMA hidden in DVD cases, $15,000 in cash, and equipment used by the duo to produce MDMA and ecstasy pills. The raid also resulted in the arrest of Rodgerson and Olczyc.

Olczyc pleaded guilty to importing, trafficking, and manufacturing MDMA and was sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison in October 2019.

Rodgerson at first denied being involved in the operation and refused to give the cops access to his electronic devices. He later pleaded guilty to four charges including, trafficking a marketable quantity of MDMA and possession of substances and equipment used to manufacture drugs.

On February 18, 2021, Rodgerson appeared before Victoria’s County Court for his sentencing hearing. At the end of the hearing, Judge Michael Tinney sentenced Rodgerson to six years and five months in prison. The sentence also includes a three-year and eight months non-parole period.

Source