Dark web drug dealer gets years in prison for peddling fake Xanax and cocaine

The government says Victor Hernandez wasn’t “just” a cocaine dealer, but a sophisticated pill pusher who peddled fake Xanax on the dark web out of a clandestine drug lab in his Detroit home that produced more than 20,000 pills per hour and made him a millionaire.

His lawyer says he was a hardworking mason and roofer who battled obesity and back pain, took oxycodone for it and got so hooked that it “led him to sell drugs on the internet to make more money” to buy the potent painkiller.

His addiction — not to mention the fake Xanax pills he sold by the thousands — would cost him everything.

In federal court Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Linda V. Parker sentenced 31-year-old Hernandez to more than 10 years in prison — 130 months — and ordered him to forfeit $3.1 million of his ill-gotten gains that prosecutors say he made from his drug dealing and laundered through cryptocurrency.

“He cloaked his drug trafficking in the perceived anonymity of cryptocurrency and the dark web, to make it easier for others to break the law and harder for law enforcement to catch him and his associates,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Coats wrote in a sentencing memo, stressing Hernandez preyed on the weak.

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“He took advantage of others — it is not too much of a stretch to say he turned other people into criminals — to help him order the equipment and supplies needed for this scheme, and to distribute the fake drugs he sold over the internet,” Coats wrote, arguing Hernandez went to great lengths not to get caught.

According to the government, Hernandez ran this scheme for three years out of his Detroit home with his sister, who also previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison earlier this year. His online business went under the moniker “OpiateConnect” and sold counterfeit Xanax not fit for human consumption, though federal investigators worked for months to determine its identity and location.

Eventually, in 2022, the investigation led agents to Hernandez’s Detroit house, where they discovered a clandestine drug lab, three guns, a “tub” containing approximately 600 grams of cocaine, thousands of pressed counterfeit Xanax pills, $340,000 in cash and more than $1 million in cryptocurrency.

Also noteworthy, the government argues, Hernandez started committing crimes that led to this case just over two years after being paroled for a prior drug crime, which also involved a loaded semiautomatic rifle.

“He’d served more than a year in state prison for that case, and his response was to increase the breadth and scale of his criminal activity,” Coats wrote in his sentencing memo, which urged the judge to sentence Hernandez to 138 months in prison.

His sentencing guidelines ranged from 123-138 months.

Hernandez asked for the lowest sentence possible, 123 months, with his lawyer arguing that Hernandez had taken accountability for his actions by pleading guilty and is committed to turning his life around.

The judge, however, wouldn’t go that low and concluded 130 months was a fit punishment for Hernandez’s crimes.

In March, Hernandez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute illicit substances, a conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, his distribution of counterfeit pills and the use of firearms in furtherance of the crime.

According to court filings, Hernandez was born and raised in Detroit. His family struggled financially and lived in a neighborhood plagued by violence. In 2010, he graduated from Western International High School in Detroit and went on to complete two semesters at Henry Ford Community College. He ultimately dropped out due to criminal activity that landed him in jail.

Hernandez went on to own a company called Hernandez Masonry and worked odd jobs in roofing. At 19, his lawyer says, he used oxycodone for the first time. An addiction followed.

“Mr. Hernandez is now adamant about taking full accountability and turning his life around,” his attorney, Gabi Silver, writes in court documents. “His past 20 months in jail have been a wake-up call for him and opened his eyes to the reality of his actions. “

According to Silver, Hernandez has made his health a priority: When he entered jail, he weighed 515 pounds. Since then, he has lost over 130 pounds. He also has been sober for two years, and he has managed his high blood pressure through diet and exercise. He aspires to become a certified trainer, help people like himself and learn a trade like carpentry.

“In short,” Silver writes, “he is making plans to change himself for the better.

“Mr. Hernandez knows he has made huge mistakes, and he feels very bad for how his actions have impacted his family,” she writes, stressing he takes accountability for failing his sister. “Mr. Hernandez regrets the example he set for his sister, who was involved in the current offense. He understands now that, as her big brother, he should have been guiding her in the right direction”

Hernandez’s prosecution was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF)investigation, which identifies and targets the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States.

As U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison put it, that’s precisely what Hernandez was:

“Today’s sentence reflects the seriousness of the danger posed to this community by the armeddistribution of controlled substances and counterfeit pills,” Ison said in announcing Hernandez’s sentencing. “This defendant tried to hide in the anonymity he thought the dark web and his use of cryptocurrency provided, but the tireless combined efforts of state and federal investigators pierced that shield.”

Contact Tresa Baldas: [email protected]