Pasadena man sentenced for selling ‘gas station heroin’ as supplement to online customers in Massachusetts
A man from Pasadena was sentenced last week in federal court for conspiring to smuggle a highly addictive drug into the United States from China, according to the U.S. District Attorney for the State of Massachusetts.
A release from the Massachusetts DA’s office indicates that 37-year-old Ryan M. Stabile smuggled tianeptine, known by its nickname “gas station heroin,” into America in multi-kilogram quantities and then sold the drug under the name Supplements for Work.
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“Stabile, through his company, marketed tianeptine as a mood enhancer and claimed that it improved cognitive functioning and falsely represented that he was selling tianeptine for research purposes only, even though he sold [it] to individuals for personal use,” the DA’s office said. “Stabile divided and repackaged the tianeptine and resold it on his websites in five-gram, 10-gram and 20-gram quantities between $55 and $175.”
Stabile made an average of $250,000 per month and a total of at least $2.2 million in illegal tianeptine sales, officials said.
“Additionally, following his indictment by a federal grand jury in November 2019, Stabile continued to sell tianeptine on the internet for several years while on pre-trial release under a different company called Ultra Vulgar Festival Drip,” the justice department said.
U.S. District Judge Mark G. Mastroianni sentenced Stabile to two years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. He had already pleaded guilty last September to one count of conspiracy and two counts of introduction of misbranded drugs with intent to defraud and mislead.
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“Misbranded and unapproved drugs that are smuggled from overseas can present a serious health risk to those who buy and use them,” said Fernando McMillan, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigation. “All smuggled drugs carry additional risks of unknown ingredients and unknown manufacturing conditions…We will continue to investigate and bring to justice those who attempt to traffic in these dangerous, misbranded and unapproved drug products.”
In addition to his prison sentence and supervised release, Stabile was ordered to pay a forfeiture of $1,833,922.
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