Former nurse in California pleads guilty to selling opioids through online Darkweb sites
A Rancho Cordova nurse who was swept up in federal agents’ efforts to stop opioid sales on the darkweb three years ago pleaded guilty Tuesday in Sacramento to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, oxycodone and other drugs, court records say.
Carrie Alaine Markis entered the plea before U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez and is scheduled to face sentencing July 19.
Markis, a registered nurse, was indicted by a federal grand jury in April 2019 and accused of selling more than 20,000 opioid pills through various darkweb sites, including one she ran out of her home called “Farmacy41,” court records say.
Federal agents who searched her home in January 2019 found $1.8 million in bitcoin and $234,000 in cash, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento said.
Court records say Markis had a master’s degree in nursing science and health care leadership from UC Davis and that she told customers in online messages that “she sourced her narcotics from ‘individuals who supplement their income through diversion,’ meaning people who sell the prescription drugs a doctor has authorized for them.”
Markis, whose license as a nurse expired in 2020, first came to authorities’ attention following the 2017 bust of the AlphaBay darkweb marketplace, which at the time was the largest illegal online sales site, court records say.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento was responsible for that investigation and broadened its focus to other sites specializing in online sales of drugs, weapons and other items.
This story was originally published April 12, 2022 at 10:46 AM.