DETROIT (WWJ) – A Detroit woman has pleaded guilty to conspiring to sell counterfeit drugs and launder money out of a “clandestine drug lab’ run from a home in Detroit.
Carolyn Hernandez-Taylor on Wednesday pleaded guilty to several federal charges after a months-long investigation, U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison announced.
Carolyn Hernandez-Taylor, 29, admitted to a federal judge she was involved in a conspiracy to distribute illicit substances, a conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, and distribution of counterfeit pills.
Court records show investigators identified a “dark web marketplace” that went by the name “opiateconnect.”
After months of investigating authorities were able to locate the distribution hub for illicit drugs, including cocaine and counterfeit drugs, at a home in Detroit.
Authorities say the counterfeit drugs, made to look like alprazolam – better known by the brand name Xanax – were in fact “uncontrolled research chemicals not scheduled for human consumption.”
A search of the Detroit home revealed the “clandestine drug lab,” according to Ison’s office. During the search authorities seized about $1,000 in cryptocurrency, over $300,000 in cash, multiple guns, an industrial sized pill press, industrial mixer, cocaine and counterfeit drugs.
Under a plea agreement, Hernandez-Taylor pleaded guilty to three counts:
• Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance – which carries a minimum sentence of five years and max of 40 years
• Conspiracy to launder monetary instruments – which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years
• Dispensing a counterfeit drug – which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years
“Counterfeit pills pose a unique danger to this community, especially ones that have the appearance of a drug that is so regularly prescribed,” Ison said, per a press release. “We will continue to investigate and aggressively prosecute instances where those counterfeit pills are manufactured illegally and distributed in our district to keep our community safe.”
“Drug traffickers will go to any length to sell their poison,” said Homeland Security Detroit Special Agent in Charge Angie M. Salazar. “
The investigation was conducted by the Detroit Dark Web Task Force, which consists of multiple federal agencies, as well as Customs and Border Protection.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert Jerome White and John N. O’Brien.
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