Show-Me State Times

A New York man, John Cruz, has admitted to continuing the sale of counterfeit Xanax on the dark web while out on bond for a previous guilty plea in a similar case. Cruz, 31, from Rochester, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to conspiracy charges related to misbranding and selling counterfeit drugs.

Cruz had previously pleaded guilty on November 29, 2023, to purchasing and reselling counterfeit Xanax from October 2019 through May 2021. Despite this plea and being out on bond, he continued his operations via a darknet website offering various types of counterfeit pills. An FBI Special Agent conducted undercover purchases using cryptocurrency as part of the investigation.

In connection with the case, an undercover purchase was also made by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service from Cruz's co-defendant Jared James. A search of James' home revealed pills in four colors following surveillance that tracked him mailing packages containing about 1,000 counterfeit or misbranded pills each to multiple locations across the United States.

Authorities seized $145,502 from Cruz's Monero cryptocurrency account as proceeds from his illegal activities. Cruz is set for sentencing on October 7 and faces up to five years in prison per count along with potential fines.

Jared James, aged 48 from Lexington, Kentucky, received a sentence of 32 months in prison after pleading guilty to similar charges in May.

The investigation involved several agencies including the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The prosecution is led by Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Ware and Kyle Bateman.