Matthew Luke Gillum, admitted Internet drug dealer, was sentenced Friday in Sacramento federal court to nine years in prison for conspiring to distribute marijuana and subverting a reporting requirement in connection with a currency transaction.
Gillum, 32, of Meadow Vista, pleaded guilty to the two charges on Feb. 6, 2014.
According to court documents, Gillum was the leader of a drug trafficking organization that operated in the greater Sacramento area and shipped marijuana through the mail to various locations outside California.
The organization solicited orders via the Silk Road website that was shut down in 2013 by the FBI. Silk Road offered drugs and other illegal goods and services. Its creator, Ross William Ulbricht, was sentenced to life in prison in June in a federal court in Manhattan.
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The Gillum organization’s customers sent cash payments to various post office boxes controlled by the drug peddlers throughout the Sacramento region.
Between August 2012 and July 2013, Gillum’s organization distributed at least 600 pounds of marijuana, much of it in express mail parcels to 16 states, according to U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner. During the government’s investigation, agents seized more than $700,000 from a bitcoin account controlled by Gillum. Bitcoin was the currency of the Silk Road realm.
On February 27, 2013, Gillum purchased a diamond ring from Tiffany and Co. for $105,887.50 in cash. Because the transaction exceeded $10,000 in cash, Tiffany and Co. was required to file an IRS form in Gillum’s name. But he used a nominee to fill out the paperwork as if the nominee purchased the ring.
Denny Walsh: 916-321-1189
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