Kentucky man receives 6 years in prison

OMAHA, Neb. -- A Kentucky man was sentenced to six years in prison for a drug-related charge.

U.S. Attorney Steven Russell said 37-year-old Justin Hail, of Kentucky, was sentenced in federal court in Omaha on Friday. He was charged for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute anabolic steroids, methamphetamine, N-Ethylhexedrone, and Alprazolam, and conspiracy to launder money. He will serve 72 months in prison with a three-year term of supervised release after. There is no parole in the federal system.

According to court documents, Hail was part of a drug trafficking organization (DTO) that made and sold anabolic steroids and other controlled substances to customers throughout the country using a private Facebook group as a storefront and the United States Postal Service to send the drugs to places throughout the country. Two of the members of the DTO were in charge of labs on the west coast, mainly used to make the finished anabolic steroids.

Officials said the DTO also marketed and sold pharmaceutical drugs described as Xanax and Adderall. Legitimately prescribed pharmaceutical Adderall is a Schedule II controlled substance that has amphetamine salts in it. A lab testing showed that the pills marketed as “Adderall” by the DTO were counterfeit and had meth, also a Schedule II controlled substance.

Authorities said the “Xanax” distributed by the DTO had N-Ethylhexedrone, a Scheduled I controlled substance. “Xanax” is a brand name for Alprazolam, a Schedule IV controlled substance. Lab testing also confirmed that Alprazolam was present in the substances found by investigators.

According to court documents, customers that bought controlled substances from the DTO were required to use cryptocurrency and cash to pay. Hail set up the sales for the DTO and used peer-to-peer digital payment platforms to receive payments for controlled substances from customers and to send funds between themselves.

Officials said the DTO used several other methods to protect the membership’s identity and to give security to the criminal organization from law enforcement and other criminal organizations.

Authorities said there were five other members of the DTO that were prosecuted and convicted. They were Jonathan Stidham, sentenced to 156 months in prison; Fernando Lopez-Reyes, 96 months; Robert Hood, 72 months; Lindsey Garcia, 48 months, and Justin Ames, who received a time served sentence.