SHERMAN OAKS—On Wednesday, April 9, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District, announced the arrest and conviction of four individuals in connection to a drug ring accused of selling and distributing both cocaine and methamphetamine in Southern California using the dark web to facilitate the transactions.
According to the U.S. District Attorney’s press release, on April 1, a federal grand jury returned a 12-count indictment, outlining 116 overt acts for their alleged roles in the conspiracy to operate a drug distribution syndicate through ten different darknet vendors in 17 markets against three 35-year-old men, David Avalyan, Hrant Gevorgyan, and Hayk Griforyan, aka “Hayk Greg,” from Glendale and Gurgen Nersesyan 43, a.k.a, “Guro Tiko,” of Sherman Oaks
The following came directly from the aforementioned press release.
“All four defendants are charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, ketamine, and MDMA (Ecstasy).
Avalyan is charged with one count of distribution of cocaine, one count of distribution of MDMA, and one count of distribution of distribution of methamphetamine. Gevorgyan is charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute MDMA and one count of possession with intent to distribute ketamine.
Grigoryan is charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Nersesyan is charged with three counts of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, and one count of possession with intent to distribute MDMA.
The defendants were arraigned Wednesday in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles. They pleaded not guilty to the charges against them and a June 3 trial date was scheduled in this matter.
According to the indictment, from September 2018 to February 2025, various vendors operating under the names JoyInc, LaFarmacia, WhiteDoc, JanesAddiction, DaShop, WhiteRepublic, Tomorrowland, PlanetHollywood, DopeValley, and Major2Minor sold cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA, and ketamine to drug customers on darknet markets in exchange for cryptocurrency.
The defendants then allegedly shipped the drugs throughout the United States via the United States Postal Service.
The defendants fulfilled drug orders through the various vendor accounts by packaging the drugs into parcels and delivering those parcels to post offices and mailboxes in Los Angeles County and elsewhere.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).”
If convicted of all charges, each defendant would face a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison.
By Sharon