Conspirators sentenced to prison for using darknet marketplace to distribute dangerous counterfeit pills in Homeland Security Task Force case

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Four Massachusetts men have been sentenced to prison for their roles in a conspiracy to manufacture counterfeit pills and distribute them across the United States.

According to court documents, from at least May 2022 to June 2025, Daniel John Blaney, 28; Kenneth Emmanuel Lora, 27; David Robert Kable Jr., 27; and Javier Alexander Bermudez, 31, all from Lynn, Massachusetts, engaged in a massive conspiracy to manufacture and distribute counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl, N-pyrrolidino etonitazene (Pyro), methamphetamine, and Bromazolam. The conspirators transported the pills in kilogram quantities from the Northeast to a redistributor in New York and then distributed them primarily via darknet marketplaces and the U.S. Postal Service to customers nationwide.

Blaney was sentenced today to 18 years and 4 months in prison. Kable was sentenced on April 29 to 12 years in prison. Bermudez was sentenced March 18 to 12 years in prison. Lora was sentenced on Dec. 17, 2025, to 15 years in prison. The defendants previously pled guilty: Blaney on Jan. 7; Kable on Dec. 2, 2025; Bermudez on Dec. 9, 2025; and Lora on Aug. 27, 2025.

The conspirators used industrial pill presses to manufacture counterfeit Oxycodone, Adderall, and Xanax pills. Instead of the pharmaceuticals' normal content, however, the conspirators' pills contained differing substances depending on the batch. For example, the conspiracy's counterfeit oxycodone pills contained a number of substances, including fentanyl and Pyro. Counterfeit Adderall pills typically contained methamphetamine, while counterfeit Xanax pills typically contained Bromazolam, a synthetic benzodiazepine.

The conspirators typically received payment from customers in the form of cryptocurrency. Estimates of the conspiracy's reach show that the conspiracy was responsible for at least 9,000 sales of pills containing methamphetamine, fentanyl, and/or Pyro.

Pyro is in the Nitazene class of synthetic opioids commonly sourced from China and mixed into other drugs. The most common Nitazenes are approximately five times the strength of fentanyl. The Pyro in this case is approximately 20-40 times stronger than fentanyl. Over a dozen fatal overdoses were related to the conspiracy's pills.

On June 4, 2025, Lora was arrested in New York. During a search of his drug premise, investigators recovered over 39 kilograms of controlled substances.

On June 17, 2025, law enforcement searched a storage unit maintained by Bermudez and Blaney and recovered five industrial pill presses, pill press attachments used to imprint counterfeit pharmaceutical brandings onto pills, over 33 grams of crystal methamphetamine, 41 kilograms of binding material, and manufacturing paraphernalia.

On July 12, 2025, Blaney fled through Canada and ultimately to Thailand in an attempt to avoid prosecution. In advance of his flight, he fraudulently obtained a rush U.S. Passport. Blaney was expelled from Thailand and taken into federal custody on August 25, 2025.

The case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office, U.S. Postal Inspection Service New York Division, New York City Police Department, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Homeland Security Investigations. Significant investigative assistance was provided by the FBI Boston Field Office, DEA New England Division, and the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Heather D. Call and Christopher M. Carter prosecuted the case.

The Justice Department's Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance in Blaney's return to the United States.

This case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Manassas is comprised of agents and officers from the FBI; Homeland Security Investigations; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF); DEA; the Diplomatic Security Service; USMS; the United States Coast Guard Investigative Service; the Naval Criminal Investigative Service; the Transportation Security Administration Federal Air Marshals Service; CBP; Enforcement and Removal Operations; and Washington Baltimore HIDTA. Prosecution is being led by the Office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

This case is also part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.

Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District CourtLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACERLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. by searching for Case Nos. 1:25-CR-221 (Blaney), 1:25-CR-227 (Lora), 1:25-CR-317 (Kable), and 1:25-CR-322 (Bermudez).