A 36-year-old Glendale man was sentenced Tuesday to four years, nine months in federal prison for helping distribute various drugs including cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA and ketamine on hidden online marketplaces in exchange for cryptocurrency.
Davit Avalyan was among four defendants arrested last year in Glendale and Sherman Oaks on federal charges alleging their roles in running a drug ring that operated on so-called “darknet” marketplaces.
Avalyan pleaded guilty in October in downtown Los Angeles to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances.
He was the last of the defendants to be sentenced in the case.
The arrests were part of the federal Joint Criminal Opioid Darknet Enforcement initiative to address illicit vendors operating on the darknet to provide narcotics to buyers across the United States, according to the FBI.
The indictment states that various vendors using such names as JoyInc, LaFarmacia, WhiteDoc and JanesAddiction, among others, sold cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA — commonly known as ecstasy and molly — and ketamine to customers in exchange for cryptocurrency.
The conspiracy regularly fulfilled multiple small-scale drug orders through darknet vendor accounts by packaging narcotics into parcels and depositing those parcels at post offices and postal mailboxes in Los Angeles County and elsewhere.
JoyInc is believed to have operated for at least seven years and is one of the most prolific methamphetamine and cocaine distributors to operate on the darknet, authorities said.
During the arrests, agents served multiple federal search warrants and seized “large amounts” of cash and suspected drugs, according to the FBI.
The remaining defendants pleaded guilty to the same conspiracy count as Avalyan and were sentenced to prison terms ranging from two to 10 years.