Bend-bound mail package of ecstasy sparks raid, arrest
Federal agents’ recent discovery of a large amount of the drug known as MDMA or ecstasy in a Bend-bound package at a San Francisco air-mail facility led to a raid on a northeast Bend home and the arrest of a resident, accused of buying the psychedelic drugs MDMA and LSD on the “dark web” and reselling them in Central Oregon, drug agents said Wednesday night.
U.S. Homeland Security Investigation and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in San Francisco found the international parcel and requested the assistance of the Central Oregon Drug Enforcement Team, said CODE Team Lt. Nick Parker.
U.S. Customs agents located a substantial quality of methylenedioxymethamphetamine, also known as MDMA or ecstasy, in a package destined for Bend, Parker said. CODE Team detectives assumed the investigation, with the help of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
On Tuesday, May 30, around 11 a.m., CODE Team detectives and federal postal inspectors executed a search warrant in the 1700 block of Northeast Lotus Drive and contacted Bryan Ross Thomas Boyden, 49, inside the home, Parker said.
The initial investigation revealed Boyden bought “commercial quantities” of LSD and MDMA from an online overseas retailer on the dark web and resold them throughout Central Oregon for profit, Parker said.
A U.S. Homeland Security agent told NewsChannel 21 on Thursday that the dark web has grown over the years and requires access to private web portals.
“Once you’re in there, then it’s the whole web,” said Lance Swanson, Homeland security resident agent. “And it’s open to everybody and all over the world, and there are sites like Amazon that sell all kinds of things, including narcotics.”
The “dark web” is World Wide Web contact that exists on “dark nets,” Parker said – overlay networks which use the Internet but require specific software, configurations or authorization to access. The dark web is often used to maintain anonymity while conducting illicit transactions, he added.
Swanson said this is a new type of crime in which drug dealers are receiving the drugs through the mail, then driving to a location to pick them up.
CODE Team detectives seized evidence of Boyden’s drug trades, including commercial quantities of LSD and MDMA, several guns and illicit financial records, Parker said.
Parker said MDMA and LSD are psychoactive and psychedelic drugs known for their potent psychological effects, including altered awareness of surroundings, perceptions and feelings, as well as sensations and images that seem real when they are not.
Previous CODE Team investigations involving overseas drugs found they are crudely made and without consistency, he added. That makes their potency and true ingredients unknown, raising the risk of serious injury or death.
Boyden was lodged in the Deschutes County Jail on several drug possession, delivery and manufacturing charges, including drug manufacturing within 1,000 feet of a school.
A jail officer said Boyden was released May 31 after posting 10 percent of his $20,000 bail, pending an initial court appearance on Wednesday. He was arraigned on an indictment, with a plea hearing set for July 12 th , court records showed.
