New Hampshire Man Who Shipped Kilos Of Fentanyl In The Mail, To Grand Rapids And Across The Country, Sentenced To Prison

          GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN — U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Mark Totten today announced that Craig Warme, 24, of New Hampshire was sentenced to 156 months in the Bureau of Prisons after he pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute fentanyl.  U.S. District Court Judge Jane M. Beckering also    ordered that when Warme is released from prison, he will be on supervised release for three years.

          “Foolishly, Mr. Warme thought he could illegally operate an online store on the dark web trafficking poison across our state and country,” said U.S Attorney Totten. “My office will hold traffickers peddling drugs accountable.”

          From June 2022 through December 2022, Warme operated an online store on the dark web under the username “DopeKingUSA.”  Warme advertised various forms of heroin for sale on the site and mailed drug orders across the country, including to several customers and undercover investigators in Grand Rapids, using the United States Postal Service.  Investigators determined that the drugs that Warme provided were actually fentanyl, not heroin, as advertised.  Warme received a total of $417,355 in gross sales in the seven months his dark web store was operational.  The Court found that he was responsible for trafficking more than 10 kilograms of fentanyl during that time.   

          “Postal inspectors work every day to prevent the flow of illicit drugs through the U.S. mail and to ensure the safety and security of the American people,” said Inspector in Charge Rodney Hopkins of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Detroit Division. “This investigation and resulting sentence imposed today on Craig Warme is a testament to the commitment postal inspectors and our law enforcement partners have to identifying and seeking prosecution of individuals who are deliberately distributing deadly fentanyl into our communities. The Postal Inspection Service is committed to combatting the opioid and fentanyl epidemic by pursuing drug traffickers who attempt to exploit the distribution channels of the Postal Service while wrongly believing the dark web allows them to engage in criminal activity with anonymity.”

          “This investigation clearly demonstrates the dark web does not provide a safe haven from which criminals can anonymously distribute fentanyl and other illicit drugs,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Orville Greene. “DEA and our partners will relentlessly pursue individuals like Mr. Warme, no matter where they operate or the means by which they distribute their illicit and deadly products.”

          This case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration, with assistance from the Michigan State Police Metropolitan Enforcement Team and the New Hampshire State Police.

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