A Burbank man was sentenced to two years and three months behind bars Monday for his role in a drug ring that shipped hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of fentanyl-laced pills and cocaine to buyers nationwide who purchased the narcotics on dark web marketplaces.

They sold on Alphabay, Torrez and White House Market.

Austin Blacano, 22, pleaded guilty in March in Los Angeles federal court to one count of aiding and abetting the distribution of fentanyl.

In his plea agreement, Blacano admitted packaging drugs sold on darknet marketplaces, and then assisting with the shipment of drug-filled parcels to customers. For months, he says, he filled orders for fentanyl-laced pills, with each parcel containing dozens, and sometimes hundreds, of the tablets.

In August 2021, Blacano and others packaged an order of 50 fentanyl-laced pills and arranged for the pills to be shipped to an individual they believed was a drug customer, but who in fact was an undercover agent working for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the plea agreement states.

Lead defendant Alejandro Soto, 21, also of Burbank, pleaded guilty in April to a federal charge and is scheduled to be sentenced in December.

Three other defendants also pleaded guilty to federal charges and have each been sentenced to prison terms of varying lengths.

In a letter to the judge filed with the court, Blacano wrote that his problems started when he began hanging out with “the wrong crowd” four years ago.

“The mistakes I made in the summer of 2021 will forever change my life but I know it’s up to me to make it for the better or for worse,” he wrote.

He added that “hopefully you can see that I’m a good person who hung out with the wrong crowd and made a horrible mistake that I will forever regret.”

Sources:

mynewsla.com

https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/two-day-takedown-results-arrest-defendants-who-allegedly-packaged-and-shipped-fentanyl

https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/federal-grand-jury-indicts-san-fernando-valley-duo-who-allegedly-used-darknet