Texas Man Sentenced To 27 Months In Prison For Role In Bath Salts Conspiracy; Must Forfeit More Than $750,000 In Assets

SCRANTON- The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, announced that a 40-year-old Texas man was sentenced today to serve 27 months in prison and ordered to forfeit his interest in more than $750,000 in assets for his role in a conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute alpha-pvp, commonly known as “bath salts,” by U.S. District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion in Scranton.

According to United States Attorney Peter Smith, the defendant, Thanh Duc Tran, of Houston, Texas, previously pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to distribute alpha-pvp to customers in at least 32 states, including Pennsylvania, over various web sites during 2011 through March 2014.

Thanh Duc Tran was indicted by a federal grand jury in March 2014, as a result of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, United States Postal Inspectors, the Pennsylvania State Police, and West Pittston Police.

Judge Mannion ordered the defendant to forfeit to the government his interest in a residence in Texas valued at approximately $300,000, coins valued at more than $260,000, four bank accounts containing over $200,000, two vehicles, over $7000 in cash and more than $17,000 in uncashed money orders, and two firearms. Tran must also spend three years on supervised release following his prison sentence.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa prosecuted the case.           

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