C. Aliens 
Updated July 18th, 2019
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Jose Robert Porras III, 22, of Sacramento, pleaded guilty today to distributing a controlled substance and illegally possessing firearms, United States Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.
According to court documents, Porras distributed marijuana and alprazolam (Xanax) on Wall Street Market using the vendor account “TheFastPlug” and on Dream Market using the vendor account “Canna_Bars.” Wall Street Market and Dream Market were websites on the dark web that allowed individuals to sell narcotics and other illegal goods and services. On May 22, 2018, investigators searched a storage unit held by Porras and found numerous firearms, including a D&D Sales Model A uzi-style firearm, a Norinco MAK 90 Sporter rifle, and a Smith and Wesson .44 caliber revolver. At the time of the search, Porras had already sustained a prior felony conviction, specifically, a 2017 state felony conviction for possession/purchase for sale of narcotics, making it illegal for him to possess a firearm.
This case was the product of an investigation by the Northern California Illicit Digital Economy Task Force (NCIDE), comprised of agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The NCIDE Task Force is a joint, federal task force focused on targeting all forms of dark-web and cryptocurrency activity in the Eastern District of California. Assistant United States Attorneys Grant B. Rabenn and Paul Hemesath are prosecuting the case.
Porras is scheduled for sentencing on September 9, 2019, before U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller. Porras will remain in custody pending his sentencing. Porras faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine for the charge of distributing narcotics, and a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the charge of felon in possession of a firearm. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
This case was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). The OCDETF Program was established in 1982 to conduct comprehensive, multi-level attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nation’s drug supply.
