T. Miller 
Four California residents were sentenced to federal prison for participating in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine and other drugs through the dark web.
From July 2019, Iliami Mosese Fatukala, 40; Quynhmy Quoc Yamamoto, 34; and Iris June Micu Mina, 38, participated in the distribution of cocaine, oxycodone, and cannabis through the “Largomonkey” vendor profile on SamSara market. Before moving to SamSara, Largomonkey distributed the drugs through Dream Market, where they had processed more than 2000 orders. The fourth defendant, John Phillip Hollis II, 45, supplied the trio with the cocaine that they distributed.
The defendants’ imprisonment stemmed from investigations conducted by the Northern California Illicit Digital Economy (NCIDE) Task Force. In addition to using the vendor account, the defendants distributed the drugs through the username “Sillycoconut” on Wickr.
In total, the investigators made 16 undercover purchases from the defendants through both SamSara and Wickr. From the undercover purchases, the investigators established that the vendor mailed the drugs from post offices in the Sacramento area under fictitious sender names.
Surveillance footage at the post offices led to the identification of Fatukala, Yamamoto, and Mina as the mailers of the drug packages.
For purchases made through Wickr, the defendants gave the investigators bitcoin addresses for payments. Blockchain analysis led the investigators to the Coinbase accounts of the defendants. Information acquired from Coinbase revealed that the defendants cashed out the proceeds through bank accounts under their names.
The investigators believe the trio’s drug trafficking operation distributed a total of approximately 13.7 kilograms of cocaine.
The investigators arrested Hollis on December 19, 2019, following a stop that resulted in the discovery of a kilogram of cocaine in his vehicle.
Fatukala, the leader of the drug trafficking operation, was sentenced to five years in prison, Yamamoto to one year and three months, while Mina was sentenced to time served. Hollis received a year in prison.
