Darkweb Oxy Buyer Sentenced for Owning Firearms
A man who admitted purchasing counterfeit oxycodone pills on the darkweb was sentenced to 18 months of probation for possessing firearms as a drug user.
In an Omaha, Nebraska, court, Chief Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr. sentenced 46-year-old Edward Barta to 18 months of probation for one count of possession of firearms by a drug user.
In late 2020, federal law enforcement officers intercepted a package of apparent oxycodone pills en route to 46-year-old Edward Barta’s residence. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents tested two seized pills and learned the active ingredients were fentanyl and fentanyl 4-ANPP.
On December 20, 2020, DEA agents executed a search warrant at Barta’s residence in Omaha. During the search, agents found more pills and a pill grinder. They also found a Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm handgun, a Taurus Millennium G2, and a Mossberg 342KA rifle inside a locked safe in Barta’s house.
Barta told DEA agents that he had purchased 100 oxycodone pills from a vendor on the darkweb for $800 in Bitcoin. He said he had completed ten orders of between 60 and 80 pills per order.
The report said Barta told investigators he ordered 100 oxycodone 30 mg pills from a dark web vendor in exchange for $800 and that he had made approximately ten prior orders of about 60 to 80 pills per order. Barta reported to the police that he took three pills daily to manage his chronic neck pain.
In one court document, Barta’s attorney provided some background on Barta’s oxycodone purchases:
“Mr. Barta suffers from chronic pain due a neck injury. Mr. Barta was under the care of a doctor for the pain, which ultimately led to a dependence on oxycodone. Despite being prescribed Duloxetine, it was not the proper amount for this pain. Mr. Barta sought oxycodone on the dark web for his personal use. He did not order an amount over a personal use amount, and thankfully was not killed when the oxycodone pills were later discovered to be fentanyl […].”
“Mr. Barta finds himself before this Court on charges brought over a year after his law enforcement contact. Even though he was not arrested on December 20, 2020, Mr. Barta used the contact as a wakeup call, and immediately sought treatment. He did not wait for Christmas to be over; instead, he went to treatment and missed spending the holidays with his children. He is under the care of a treating physician who increased the Duloxetine to an amount in which gives Mr. Barta relief from pain. Mr. Barta continues to abstain from opioids.”
In February 2021, a federal grand jury returned an indictment accusing Barta of possessing a firearm as a drug user. Although Barta entered a guilty plea, his attorney wrote that Barta did not know he had violated any laws by possessing firearms.
“Mr. Barta did not know it was unlawful to be in possession of the firearms, and there is no evidence that Mr. Barta ever used the firearms. Mr. Barta had the firearms in locked cases and never discharged them.”
Arguing for a base level reduction of eight points, Barta’s attorney wrote that Barta’s firearms were “solely possessed for collection purposes.” Interesting choices for collectors firearms. I will say that.
At least he is not collecting Hi-Points
Chief Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr. sentenced Barta to 18 months without special conditions.
Pretty decent outcome for Barta. He failed two drug tests for THC during pretrial release.
Mr. Barta has been extremely successful on pretrial release. He had two (2) positive tests from taking Delta 8. When he failed the urine test, he stopped taking Delta 8, and had negative tests after the Delta 8 was no longer in his system. He completed treatment before these charges were even filed and is maintaining his sobriety. He has shown over a year of adhering to the court’s orders and success. He realizes his addiction is life threatening and lifelong. He takes his sobriety seriously and would request a term of probation without incarceration.
Is the court simply accepting the attorney’s statement as factual or can a lab actually differentiate between Delta 8 and Delta 9?
Omaha Man sentenced to probation for possessing firearms as a drug user | archive.is, archive.org, rivercountry.newschannelnebraska.com
Indictment pdf