Probably one lesser Cialis, Viagra and Levitra spam mail you will be getting daily.
“Internationally known e-mail spammer Christopher William Smith aka “Rizler” on Wednesday to 30 years in prison for running an illegal Internet pharmacy that sold about $24 million in prescription drugs.”
U.S. District Judge Michael Davis called Smith, 27, a “drug kingpin” as he meted out the sentence requested by federal prosecutors. Though Davis expressed some misgivings about the length of the prison term recommended by sentencing guidelines, he said it was nonetheless reasonable.
Smith’s appearance Wednesday followed three other sentencings related to Smith’s online drugstore, which he called Xpress Pharmacy.
Darrell Arden Griepp, 46, of Burnsville got three years of probation and 80 hours of community service after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of distributing controlled substances. He played a minor role as a telephone marketer and deserved leniency, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Engisch.
Smith said he didn’t intend to become “the drug lord of Internet pharmacy,” but admitted that most of his businesses “have been on the edge of what the government liked and didn’t like.”
The pharmacy was very lucrative: the government seized 17 of Smith’s automobiles and sold them at auction in 2006 for more than $1.6 million.
Joe Friedberg, Smith’s attorney, told Davis on Wednesday that no other Internet pharmacy conviction has resulted in sentences exceeding 20 years.
Engisch said the government had been willing to cut Smith a deal early on. But Smith changed that forever when he threatened Hollis, she said.
“Mr. Smith is nothing but a drug dealer,” she said. “He’s a high-tech drug dealer.”
Full story at startribune
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