Dream Vendor "5thAvenue" Arrested in DEA Operation

According to documents unsealed in the U.S. District Court in New Hampshire, two individuals were arrested in connection with an investigation into the Dream market vendor “5thAvenue.” One of the two suspects has been extradited to Florida as the primary suspect and alleged owner of the account and the second suspect is in custody in New Hampshire pending trial.

The suspected drug traffickers, according to the Nashua Telegraph, were the target of an investigation led by a Drug Enforcement Administration taskforce in Florida. Brian Knight and Tina Kearns, DEA Special Agent Austin Love explained, sold heroin on the darkweb under the username 5thAvenue.

The Telegraph says:

According to documents unsealed in the U.S. District Court in Concord on Thursday, Knight and Kearns were the target of an investigation into an online drug distribution conspiracy, which resulted in a recent raid of a hotel on Executive Park Drive.

According to Austin Love, a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration, the couple used a known online criminal marketplace called Dream Market to sell heroin and MDMA.

The Catch

The Special Agent wrote that the United States Postal Inspection Service helped the DEA track the person who had purchased the postage on a package undercover DEA agents had ordered in July. According to court documents, Knight used the USPS website to purchase the Priority Mail label or postage that he later used to ship heroin to a DEA agent.

USPIS inspectors traced the I.P. address to a hotel room in New Hampshire that Kearns had been renting. Knight had allegedly used his credit card to purchase the postage. The DEA raided the hotel room and arrested both suspects.

The New Hampshire case was unsealed Thursday in Concord. Kearns was ordered held pending trial, while Knight was sent to Florida authorities.

According to Dream market stats, the 5thAvenue account has not been active since June 2018. It is slightly unusual that the DEA caught the suspects in a hotel room with heroin and USPS packages in August, months after the account had been last accessed. Perhaps the duo had been selling under a new account after realizing their packages had been profiled.