L Walker 
Rapid City man was sentenced to time served after using the dark web to import fentanyl and heroin from other countries.
Nathan Reuer, the 26-year-old who pleaded guilty to importing the drugs, served about 16 months at the Pennington County Jail, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office in South Dakota. He could have been sentenced up to 20 years on each charge.
As part of the plea deal, prosecutors dropped two other drug importation charges and one charge of intending to distribute heroin.
Federal Judge Jeffrey Viken ordered Reuer to spend three years on supervised release and forfeit his laptop, two cell phones and a flash drive. Reuer must also pay $2,775 in restitution to the Rapid City Police Department’s evidence section for the cost of drug testing and $660 to the South Dakota Drug Control Fund.
Reuer had the drugs shipped to his Rapid City home from February 2018 to February 2019, according to the factual basis document he signed. A January 2019 search of his electronics revealed web searches for buying drugs and tracking packages. Reuer also tested positive for marijuana, opioids and methamphetamine.
The dark web is a part of the internet only accessible by using special software that allows users to remain anonymous and untraceable.
It’s unclear how law enforcement first learned about Reuer importing the packages. But a Rapid City police officer and Homeland Security Investigations agent began seizing packages he ordered from Canada in January 2019 and found drugs inside, according to search warrant application.
