Santa Clarita man sentenced to prison for role in trafficking drugs in stuff animals

A 34-year-old Santa Clarita man who led a Los Angeles-based, darknet drug trafficking organization that distributed heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine nationwide was sentenced Thursday to 8 years in federal prison.

From at least July 2018 to March 2019, Jerrell Eugene Anderson and his accomplices, distributed methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine that they sold on darknet marketplaces, going by the names "drugpharmacist" and "rickandmortyshop." 

From San Fernando Valley stash houses, the drugs were packaged in stuffed animals and shipped to customers nationwide.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Anderson and a co-conspirator sold heroin to a victim in Knoxville, Tennessee whose death resulted from using the heroin.

Also, in March 2019, in a Glendale apartment, Anderson and other co-conspirators possessed methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine for distribution to darknet customers, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The other defendants in this case – Christopher Canion Von Holton, 37, of Woodland Hills; Kenneth Lashawn Hadley, 37, of Las Vegas; Adan Sepulveda, 31, of Palmdale; and Jackie Walter Burns, 26, of Lancaster, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and have been sentenced. 

The multi-state investigation involved Los Angeles, Virginia, Tennessee and Arkansas police, along with the FBI and the US Postal Inspection Service.