Feds Bust Northern California Nurse For Dealing Illegal Opioids On Dark Net
SACRAMENTO (CBS SF) -- A 42-year-old Rancho Cordova nurse has been indicted by a federal grand jury in a six-count indictment charging her with distribution of fentanyl and oxycodone on the dark net.
According to court documents, Carrie Alaine Markis was a registered California nurse accused of selling more than 20,000 prescription opioid pills and products on various darknet sites, including Silk Road 2.0, Pandora, and AlphaBay.
Between 2013 and 2016, federal prosecutors claim Markis purchased legitimate prescriptions from willing sellers -- allegedly including 52-year-old Andrea Michelle Jordan, who was also indicted on other charges -- and then resold the pills and patches.
The feds say Markis ran her darknet business -- "Farmacy41" -- of her Rancho Cordova home.
Court documents claim Markis's business operated on Silk Road 2.0 from November 2013 through May 2014. During this time, she allegedly sent private messages to her customers revealing that she was a licensed California medical professional. She sold more than 8,500 hydrocodone pills and more than 2,500 oxycodone pills.
In combination with other sales of morphine, hydromorphone, fentanyl, and methadone, Markis is accused of earning about $230,000 in Bitcoin at the time.
Markis's Farmacy41 business operated on Pandora from December 2013 through August 2014. During this time, she allegedly sold more than 2,500 hydrocodone and more than 2,000 oxycodone pills. In combination with other sales of morphine, hydromorphone, methadone, and fentanyl, prosecutors said she completed about 393 transactions and earned about $122,000 in Bitcoin.
On AlphaBay, Markis operated her Farmacy41 business from November 2015 through April 2016. There, she is accused of completing about 262 transactions for hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine, methadone, and fentanyl. At the time, her Bitcoin earnings were worth about $74,000.
Federal agents searched Markis's residence on January 24 and found about $1.8 million in Bitcoin held on a cold storage cryptocurrency wallet. Agents also found about $234,000 in cash.
She was arrested on a federal complaint and made her initial appearance in court on January 25, 2019.
If convicted, Markis faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
