A Hawaiian Gardens man was convicted of utilizing the favored on-line market OfferUp to promote a tar-like substance containing fentanyl to an adolescent who later died of an overdose.
Gregory Hevener, 47, was discovered responsible in federal court docket Monday of 1 rely every of distribution of fentanyl leading to dying and possession with intent to distribute heroin, based on a press release by the U.S. lawyer’s workplace.
In November 2020, prosecutors stated the 18-year-old sufferer responded to a submit on OfferUp by which Hevener marketed “BLACK TAR ROOFING MATERIALS!!” on the market in Lengthy Seaside. Hevener and the sufferer, who was not named in Monday’s information launch, communicated concerning the advert after which met in Hawaiian Gardens, the place Hevener offered the sufferer what he claimed was heroin, authorities stated.
The substance was in truth a “black, tar-like substance containing fentanyl and tramadol, a pain-relief remedy,” the U.S. lawyer’s workplace stated.
“The sufferer then drove dwelling and took the medication, struggling a deadly overdose,” the assertion stated.
Because the Los Angeles Occasions reported this month, seemingly innocuous phrases like “roofing tar,” “Roxy blue shorts” and “fettuccine” have been used for years to promote illicit fentanyl on web marketplaces. Till just lately, native Craigslist posts featured a wide range of tongue-in-cheek listings that drug specialists stated have been covert adverts for fentanyl.
A couple of years in the past, OfferUp was “the spot” for such covert drug adverts, Invoice Bodner, former particular agent in control of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Los Angeles subject division, advised The Occasions this 12 months. However he stated that round 2021 the federal company efficiently urged the positioning to take steps to deal with the black market postings.
“We had a Zoom with OfferUp, they usually sort of received on their individuals and tightened issues up,” Bodner stated.
An OfferUp spokesperson stated in an emailed assertion that the corporate “explicitly bans” the sale of unlawful medication, hashish and prescription medicines.
“We do our greatest to overview posted content material to make sure that transactions for patrons, sellers, job seekers, and employers are moral, protected, and guarded,” the assertion stated, including that the corporate removes listings and takes “actions on accounts that violate our insurance policies,” working with legislation enforcement and updating product options.
This 12 months, Craigslist appeared to crack down as nicely, as suspicious adverts grew to become much less prevalent after The Occasions started asking questions concerning the web site’s efforts to deal with suspected drug gross sales on its platform.
Although Hevener’s authorized bother started simply months earlier than federal drug officers in Los Angeles began taking extra curiosity in drug gross sales on OfferUp, Bodner stated Monday that his case wasn’t what sparked the company’s curiosity within the platform.
“It was simply that these adverts have been fairly prevalent then,” Bodner stated.
In July, October and December 2021, legislation enforcement carried out searches at and out of doors Hevener’s residence, seizing 245 grams of burned black tar heroin, 1.2 grams of fentanyl, a digital scale, items of aluminum foil with residue of fentanyl and tramadol, and different objects, the assertion from the U.S. lawyer’s workplace stated.
Hevener is scheduled for sentencing Sept. 16, and he faces a compulsory minimal of 20 years in federal jail and a statutory most of life behind bars.
