Joanna De
Alba of Tijuana, Mexico, has been arraigned in federal court in
Brooklyn, New York, for the illegal sale and disbursement of narcotics,
according to a Department of Justice (DOJ) press release Thursday.
“As
alleged, De Alba dispensed heroin and methamphetamine from the shadowy
corners of the internet, believing that it provided anonymity to her and
her customers,” said DOJ Attorney Richard P. Donoghue. “A bright light
has been shined on her activities, and she will now be held to account
for her charged criminal acts.”
Under
the pseudonym “RaptureReloaded,” De Alba allegedly sold narcotics on
the dark web marketplace Wall Street Market from June 2018 to May 2019.
Customers used encrypted email and bitcoin to purchase drugs from De
Alba, who marketed various levels of anonymity for packages sent to the
U.S. – such as “Basic Stealth,” “Better Stealth” and “Super Stealth
360,” according to the DOJ.
In
a January 2019, an undercover Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agent
successfully purchased some 40 grams of narcotics from De Alba,
receiving a package in Queens, New York, for around $2,000 in bitcoin.
The
DEA also intercepted five international packages from the Netherlands
and Canada containing narcotics addressed to De Alba’s deceased husband
in Southern California. The DOJ alleges De Alba had employed her
partner’s identify and credit cards to process transactions since his
death in March 2018.
“Anonymity
is what drug dealers rely on in the dark web, but this case proves it’s
a false security,” said DEA Special Agent-in-Charge Ray Donovan. “Law
enforcement is committed to tracking down drug traffickers’ distribution
networks everywhere.”
If convicted of all counts, De Alba faces between five and 100 years in prison.
