Date: April 10, 2023 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Sacramento, Calif. — Chaloner Saintillus, of Delray Beach, Florida, pleaded guilty Thursday, April 6, 2023, to 12 counts of distributing controlled substances into the Eastern District of California using the dark web, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. According to court documents, Saintillus operated multiple narcotics vendor accounts on the dark web under the username "chlnsaint," through which he sold fentanyl, oxycodone, oxymorphone, and other narcotics in exchange for cryptocurrency. Taking advantage of the dark web's anonymity, Saintillus completed more than 1,000 drug deals between August 2019 and August 2020 alone. Saintillus used the U.S. Postal Service to send his customers the fentanyl, opioids, and other narcotics they purchased from "chlnsaint." Law enforcement officers from an interagency task force in the Eastern District of California known as the Northern California Illicit Digital Economy Task Force ("NCIDE") conducted 12 controlled purchases of narcotics from "chlnsaint" between April and October 2020. Agents identified Saintillus as "chlnsaint" through physical surveillance and analysis of financial, package tracking, and photographic records maintained by the Postal Service. NCIDE agents executed warrants at Saintillus's Florida residence in October 2020, during which they arrested Saintillus and seized narcotics, over $20,000 in cryptocurrency, a firearm, and a suitcase full of ammunition. This case is the product of an investigation by NCIDE, which is composed of agents from the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. NCIDE agents received assistance from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and the Delray Beach Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sam Stefanki and Ross Pearson are prosecuting the case. Saintillus is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller on July 10, 2023. Saintillus faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine on each of the 12 counts to which he pleaded guilty. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
