Man sentenced for supplying powerful synthetic drug that killed El Dorado County teen
A judge has sentenced a 28-year-old El Dorado County man to 10 years in federal prison for buying and distributing hallucinogenic drugs that killed a teenage boy several years ago.
Elijah Lee Richter on Jan. 13 pleaded guilty to distributing a controlled substance known as n25i-nBOME, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento.
In his guilty plea, Richter admitted he imported doses of n25i‑nBOME for the purpose of distributing the drugs to others, and some of those doses ultimately were distributed to others which led to a teen’s overdose death in September 2012, according to federal prosecutors.
Also known as “N-Bomb,” n25i-nBOME is the most abused and potent form of a powerful synthetic hallucinogen sold as an alternative to LSD or mescaline, according to the nonprofit drugfreeworld.org. N-bomb is so toxic that it requires a filter mask, gloves and glasses to handle it.
Richter gave some of that drug to Jesse Howard Roberts, who gave some to Alejandro Nunez Avila, authorities have said. The El Dorado High School student was found unresponsive at a Pollock Pines home and later died at Marshall Hospital.
The El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office prosecuted Roberts, who was 21 years old when he was arrested. Roberts was convicted of involuntary manslaughter on March 3, 2017, and sentenced to six years in prison, according to the news release.
Federal prosecutors said Richter in September 2012 imported the hallucinogenic drugs, including doses of n25i-nBOME, from Europe to his home in Camino. They said Richter placed orders online through Silk Road, a now-defunct darknet website. Richter used bitcoin currency and an anonymous interface to conduct drug deals.
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration and the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office served a search warrant at Richter’s home.
There, the DEA and sheriff’s investigators found 2.61 grams of MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy or molly, 3.81 grams of suspected hash oil and 42.25 grams of marijuana, along with 89 pink-colored tabs of suspected n25i-nBOME on paper and seven additional tabs in aluminum foil, according to the news release.
The investigators also found three digital weight scales and a handwritten list of drugs and their proper dosage units, prosecutors said.
Five years after the boy died, a federal grand jury indicted Richter, who was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller.
