The Grimm Reaper And The Dark Web

The Illinois Administrator has filed a complaint alleging criminal conduct

In or about 2019, Respondent used a fake South Carolina driver’s license to rent a United States post office box (“PO box”) in Chicago, Illinois, under the name “Joseph Borrel.”

Beginning in 2019, Respondent began acquiring ecstasy pills (MDMA) on the dark web. Respondent would purchase the pills using cryptocurrency and have the package shipped to Joseph Borrel at the PO box. Generally, there would be approximately 10 days between Respondent placing an order and receiving the package. After obtaining the pills, Respondent would then sell them to a known dealer for a net profit of approximately $5,000 per transaction.

Between 2019 and October 2020, Respondent ordered ecstasy pills from the dark web approximately 15 times, and with each transaction Respondent kept no more than 10 pills.

On or about October 13, 2020, Cook County Sheriff Investigator John Riggio was notified that a Customs and Border Protections Officer at the O’Hare International Airport Foreign Mail Unit conducted a border search on a parcel from Great Britain, and addressed to Joseph Borrel at a P.O. box in Chicago, Illinois. Upon examination, the parcel contained a vacuum sealed bundle of approximately 424 gray “Grimm Reaper” pills, suspected to be ecstasy (MDMA). Subsequent field tests were conducted and it was determined the pills were positive for MDMA.

On October 22, 2020, Judge Timothy Chambers signed an anticipatory search warrant and orders for a GPS and alarming devices to be installed on the parcel.

On October 23, 2020, investigators were alerted that Respondent had retrieved the parcel from the PO box. Investigators followed Respondent’s vehicle to a parking garage. Shortly thereafter, investigators received an alert from the alarming device, notifying them that the parcel had been opened. As an investigator approached the rear of Respondent’s vehicle, they observed Respondent with a bundle of pills in his hand and the open parcel in the trunk. Respondent was then arrested.

Respondent pleaded guilty to a Class 4 felony for possession of a controlled substance. (Mike Frisch)