U.S. Attorney's Office
United States Attorney Steven Russell announced that Jonathan R. Stidham, 38, of Eugene, Ore., was sentenced today in federal court in Omaha for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute anabolic steroids, methamphetamine, N-Ethylhexedrone, and Alprazolam, and conspiracy to launder money. Chief United States District Judge Robert F. Rossiter Jr. sentenced Stidham to imprisonment for a term of 156 months. There is no parole in the federal system. After his release from prison, Stidham will begin a 4-year term of supervised release.
Stidham was a leader of a drug trafficking organization (DTO) that produced and distributed anabolic steroids and other controlled substances to customers throughout the country using a private Facebook group as an online storefront and the United States Postal Service to ship the drugs to locations throughout the country. In addition to anabolic steroids, the DTO marketed and sold pharmaceutical drugs described as Xanax and Adderall. Legitimately prescribed pharmaceutical Adderall is a Schedule II controlled substance containing amphetamine salts. However, laboratory testing revealed that the pills marketed as “Adderall” by the DTO were counterfeit and contained methamphetamine, also a Schedule II controlled substance. The “Xanax” distributed by the DTO contained N-Ethylhexedrone, a Scheduled I controlled substance. “Xanax” is a brand name for Alprazolam, a Schedule IV controlled substance. Alprazolam was also confirmed by laboratory testing to be present in substances recovered by investigators.
Customers purchasing controlled substances from the DTO were required to use cryptocurrency and cash to pay. The DTO used peer-to-peer digital payments platforms to accept payments for controlled substances from customers and to transfer funds among and between themselves. In addition to the use of digital payments platforms, the DTO used various other methods designed to protect the membership’s anonymity and to provide security for the criminal organization from law enforcement and other criminal organizations.
Stidham operated a clandestine laboratory from an apartment he maintained in Eugene, Oregon, specifically for the purpose of producing finished anabolic steroids. Stidham laundered proceeds he received from the sale of steroids and the other controlled substances via a PayPal account through personal business and checking accounts and through a sham corporation incorporated in Oregon in 2017.
This
effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the
highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States
using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.
Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at
https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF
This case was investigated by the Omaha offices of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, and the United States Postal Inspection Service.