Pensacola man sentenced to 8 years for distributing alprazolam pills through the mail
A 46-year-old Pensacola man was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distributing and possessing alprazolam, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Florida.
Jason C. Martinez pleaded guilty Jan. 10, 2023, of intending to illegally distribute alprazolam, a controlled substance used to treat panic and anxiety disorders, throughout the Pensacola area.
Between Nov. 1, 2020, and March 11, 2022, Martinez and co-conspirators Chad Dennison, 44, and Tina Rahn, 53, conspired to distribute the drug by mailing it through the United State Postal Service, according to the release.
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On March 11, 2022, law enforcement executed multiple residential search warrants to conclude its nearly one-and-a-half year-long investigation into the alprazolam distribution conspiracy. During the investigation, law enforcement intercepted over 100 parcels traveling through the United States Postal stream.
Upon execution of the search warrants, law enforcement discovered pharmaceutical grade pill presses, pill counting machines, drug ledgers and packaging products, amongst other items.
Martinez received his orders from unknown co-conspirators via the dark web, and he then mixed, pressed and packaged the pills as well as labelled them for distribution, according to the release. Martinez then relied on his co-conspirators to deliver the packages to various post offices throughout the Pensacola area for distribution all over the country.
Dennison pleaded guilty and received four years in federal prison. Rahn also pleaded guilty and received 2 years in prison.
Along with Martinez's eight-year sentence, he will spend two years under supervised release.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola man Jason Martinez sentenced to 8 years on narcotics charge
