Final EastSideHigh Defendant Sentenced to 28 Months in Prison

The final defendant in the EastSideHigh case was sentenced to 28 months in prison.

U.S. Senior District Court Judge Rya W. Zobel sentenced Steven McCall, 26, to 28 months in prison and three years of supervised release. McCall pleaded guilty to conspiracy to manufacture, distribute and possess with intent to distribute MDMA, Ketamine, and Alprazolam. In June 2019, McCall was indicted with co-conspirators Binh Thanh Le and Allante Pires for selling hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of drugs through the darkweb vendor account “EastSideHigh.”

Le, the ringleader, was sentenced to eight years in prison and three years of supervised release. A judge ordered Le to forfeit more than 59 Bitcoin (representing a forfeiture in excess of $1.1 million), $114,680 in cash, $42,390 representing the proceeds from the sale of a 2018 BMW M3, along with other items, including a pill press and currency counter. Pires was sentenced to 28 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Pires was also ordered to forfeit a 2013 Mercedes E sedan.

During the EastSideHigh investigation, undercover law enforcement officers posed as money launderers. They discussed exchanging Bitcoin for cash with EastSideHigh. Eventually, EastSideHigh agreed to meet the undercover feds at a hotel and send them $200,000 in Bitcoin in exchange for cash. The hotel room where Le met the postal inspectors was wired with audio and video. From a previous Darknetlive article:

“After Le had sent the Bitcoin to the address provided by the feds, the second postal inspector pretended to be having problems with his cellphone. He asked Le to open the wallet application on his phone and verify that the transaction had been completed. Le handed his unlocked phone to the postal inspector. After the postal inspector had possession of Le’s phone, postal inspectors and state police entered the room and detained Le.”

“After being advised of his rights per Miranda, Le voluntarily provided law enforcement officers with his password.”

“After detaining Le, other officers approached Pires’ Mercedes, which was still in the hotel’s parking lot. They detained Pires and asked him about the keys on his key ring. Pires identified one as the key to the office space in Stoughton. Other law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at the office space where they encountered McCall wearing a respirator.”

During the investigation, feds seized over 19 kilograms of MDMA, almost seven kilograms of Ketamine, nearly one kilogram of cocaine, more than 10,000 counterfeit Xanax pills, and over $114,000 in cash. At the storage unit where the feds encountered McCall, officers found a computer with the “EastSideHigh” vendor page open, numerous packages containing MDMA and Ketamine, various shipping and packaging materials, and a pill press from the office space in Stoughton.

Brockton Man Sentenced in Sophisticated Drug Trafficking Conspiracy that Operated Using the Dark Web | www.justice.gov, archive.is