BOISE, Idaho (KIFI) – A 39-year-old Boise man was sentenced to 188 months in federal jail for conspiring to distribute managed substances and conspiring to commit cash laundering, U.S. Lawyer Josh Hurwit introduced.
In accordance to courtroom information, Michael Robert Osborn participated in a prolonged conspiracy to distribute medicine and a conspiracy to commit cash laundering. Osborn, who was incarcerated in the Idaho Division of Correction throughout the felony exercise, was a supervisor of the felony exercise. He utilized a contraband mobile phone to talk with different members of the conspiracy to facilitate the crime. Osborn used cryptocurrency to buy alpha-pyrrolidinohexanophenone (a-PHP), a schedule I managed substance that’s generally referred to as “tub salts,” on the web. The medicine have been shipped from exterior america into Idaho the place different members of the conspiracy offered the medicine and picked up the drug proceeds. These drug proceeds have been transformed into Bitcoin and different cryptocurrencies to conceal the character and supply of the drug proceeds. Osborn would then use the Bitcoin to buy further a-PHP for distribution. This scheme continued from October 2019 till March 2021. In the course of the investigation, regulation enforcement brokers seized a digital pockets, pursuant to a court-authorized seizure warrant, that contained the drug proceeds. The pockets contained 7.83777 Bitcoin and was valued at roughly $280,000 on the time of the seizure.
Chief U.S. District Choose David C. Nye sentenced Osborn to 188 months in federal jail adopted by three years of supervised launch and ordered the seized Bitcoin to be forfeited. Osborn pleaded responsible to the fees on April 26, 2023. Osborn is the fourth and last defendant to be sentenced in the case.
Codefendant Troy Thomas Wheeler, 48, of Meridian, was sentenced on September 11, 2023, by Choose Nye to 86 months in federal jail for his role in the drug conspiracy. Wheeler, who was additionally incarcerated in the Idaho Division of Correction throughout the felony exercise, assisted Osborn in recruiting others and supervising the felony exercise. Wheeler was sentenced to three years of supervised launch following his jail sentence.
Laura Russell, 66, of Mountain House, who’s Osborn’s mom, was sentenced by Choose Nye on June 22, 2023, to 40 months in federal jail adopted by two years of supervised launch for her role in the cash laundering conspiracy. Russell collected the drug proceeds from others and transformed them into Bitcoin figuring out that the funds have been drug proceeds to conceal the character and supply of the drug proceeds.
Angela Marie Klinkhamer, 44, of Caldwell, was sentenced by Choose Nye on March 16, 2023, to 70 months in federal jail adopted by three years of supervised launch for her role in each the drug and cash laundering conspiracy. Klinkhamer’s role included distributing the medicine to others and accumulating the drug proceeds, which she supplied to codefendant Russell in order that they could possibly be transformed into Bitcoin to conceal the drug proceeds. Klinkhamer pleaded responsible to conspiracy to distribute managed substances and conspiracy to commit cash laundering on November 28, 2022.
“This case displays our dedication not solely to take away drug sellers and their medicine from our streets, but in addition to seize their proceeds utilizing the cash laundering and forfeiture statutes,” U.S. Lawyer Hurwit mentioned. “Drug traffickers ought to comprehend it makes no distinction whether or not they conceal their illicit proceeds in a suitcase or a cryptocurrency pockets. We are going to monitor their cash, discover the place it’s hidden, and seize it.”
“IRS CI particular brokers are federal regulation enforcement’s premier monetary investigators, and consultants at dismantling drug trafficking organizations by unraveling their cryptocurrency schemes,” mentioned Todd Martin, Particular Agent in Cost, IRS Legal Investigation Denver Subject Workplace. “CI, our regulation enforcement companions, and america Lawyer’s Workplace will proceed to work collectively to goal these operations and remove this risk from our communities.”
“These sentences exemplify the unwavering dedication that HSI and our regulation enforcement companions convey to safeguarding our communities from the distribution of managed substances and the illicit cash laundering schemes that fund such felony actions,” mentioned Particular Agent in Cost (SAC) Robert Hammer, who oversees HSI operations in the Pacific Northwest. “There aren’t any corners the place felony actions or their proceeds can elude our attain, as demonstrated by the profitable prosecution and sentencing of people like Michael Robert Osborn and his co-defendants. Our collaborative efforts be sure that justice is served, defending the well-being of our communities.”
U.S. Lawyer Hurwit credited the cooperative efforts of Homeland Safety Investigations, IRS – Legal Investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the and the Idaho Division of Correction – Particular Investigations Unit, which led to the fees. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Atwood and Erin Blackadar.
