Kofi Anash 
A 30-year-old woman was sentenced to five years in prison Thursday for her role in a mail-order drug operation involving cryptocurrency.
Brittany Nicole Green was given more prison time than what her attorneys sought — two years and seven months — but less than the five years and 10 months that prosecutors wanted.
Green and her father, Gregory, sold a variety of drugs from their West End home in 2017 and 2018 in exchange for bitcoins. The drugs were shipped through the mail using labeling describing the contents as organic fitness vitamins.
A raid on their home uncovered carfentanil, meth, and Xanax — “a supermarket of drugs” that would appeal to various buyers, said U.S. District Court Judge Susan Watters, at Gregory Green’s sentencing.
The raid was the culmination of an investigation that began in December 2018, when Customs and Border Patrol officers in Michigan intercepted a Canadian package being mailed to the Greens’ Billings residence. It contained alprazolam pills, a prescription drug commonly marketed under the brand name Xanax.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan Dake said the case stood out among the many drug cases his office prosecutes because the drug sales were conducted entirely through the mail, meaning Green and her father “never had to leave (their) home.”
The judge agreed, saying the operation was “easily conducted under the radar of law enforcement, which means it can go on for a long time,” she said.
Green pleaded guilty to meth possession with intent to distribute. Under a plea deal, prosecutors dropped a drug conspiracy charge.
Her father admitted both possession and conspiracy, with no plea agreement in place, and was sentenced to three years in prison.
Watters said Green’s role in the operation “merits a longer sentence” than her father received.
Gregory Green rationalized his involvement in the drug operation by saying in August that he believed it safer for his daughter to use drugs in his home than on her own.
Watters also noted that Green lost both her mother and brother to drug overdose deaths during Green’s teenage years and that Green had struggled for years with addiction problems.
Watters said Green could earn a one-year reduction on her sentence if she is successful in a drug abuse treatment program in prison.
Green must then serve five years of supervised release.
When it was her turn to speak, Green apologized briefly.
“I will work as hard as I can to make sure I am never seen in this courtroom ever again,” she said.
