Pennsylvania Man Who Sold Counterfeit Prescription Pills Containing Fentanyl and Other Substances Pleads Guilty, Sentenced to More Than Four Years in Federal Prison

 Law Enforcement Officers Recovered Drugs, Firearms, and Information About Dark Web Marketplaces

Baltimore, Maryland – Chief U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar today sentenced Jacob Leister, age 29, of Glenville, Pennsylvania, to 51 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, after Leister pleaded guilty to distribution of fentanyl and Alprazolam.  Chief Judge Bredar also ordered Leister to forfeit $15,400 in the form of a money judgment, which represents the net proceeds of his sale of drugs to an undercover officer.

The guilty plea and sentence were announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur; Assistant Special Agent in Charge Orville O. Greene of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Baltimore District Office; Postal Inspector in Charge Peter R. Rendina of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service - Washington Division; and Anne Arundel County Interim Police Chief William Lowry.

According to his guilty plea, from December 2018 through September 2019, Leister sold purported prescription pills to an undercover law enforcement officer on several occasions.  As a result of these sales, Leister distributed at least 56 grams of a mixture containing fentanyl and 708 pills containing Alprazolam.

As detailed in his plea agreement, on three occasions between December 18, 2018 and February 7, 2019, Leister sold the undercover officer a total of 600 pills purported to be Alprazolam.  In fact the pills were found to contain flubromazolam, a substance similar to Alprazolam, but that is not a controlled substance.  Between May 13, 2019 and July 25, 2019, Leister sold the undercover officer 499 pills purported to be Oxycodone, which in fact contained fentanyl.  During that same timeframe, Leister sold the undercover officer 308 Alprazolam pills—that actually contained Alprazolam.  On September 9, 2019, Leister sold the undercover officer 400 suspected Alprazolam pills for $800.  The undercover officer paid Leister a total of $15, 400 for all of the pills.

On November 21, 2019, Leister sold the undercover officer a large quantity of suspected Alprazolam pills, and was then arrested by investigators.  A search warrant was executed at Leister’s residence that same day.  Law enforcement recovered a number of computers.  Subsequent searches of the computers revealed information and photographs about bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and cryptocurrency exchanges; information about dark web marketplaces, where individuals can purchase drugs, among other things.  Law enforcement also recovered a pump action tactical-style shotgun, two rifles, and another hunting-style shotgun, in addition to ammunition and magazines for the firearms.

United States Attorney Robert K. Hur commended the DEA, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Anne Arundel County Police Department for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Hur thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth S. Clark, who prosecuted the federal case.