Raleigh man pleads guilty to making, selling anxiety drugs on 'dark web'

A Raleigh man has pleaded guilty to making and selling Xanax pills on encrypted websites.

Matthew Lee Yensan, of 8709 Hidden View Court, pleaded guilty last month to federal charges of possession with the intent to distribute a quantity of alprazolam, (the generic name for Xanax), distribution of a quantity of alprazolam by means of the internet, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, conspiracy to conceal transactions with a financial institution with drug proceeds over $10,000 and international money laundering.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration received a tip last July that Yensan was mass producing Xanax at a storage unit on Gorman Street and sold the drugs on the "dark web," encrypted sites that are generally known for facilitating illegal activity such as child pornography and human trafficking.

In a search of Yensan's house, DEA agents found marijuana, prescription drugs, $269,000 in cash in a locked safe, several loaded handguns and a rifle hidden in what authorities described as "defensive positions" throughout the house, bitcoin storage cards and other items used to trade in the virtual currency and a fake South Carolina driver's license that was used to rent the Gorman Street storage unit, according to a search warrant.

At the storage unit, authorities seized 400 pounds of Xanax precursors and benzodiazepine, which is another anxiety drug; 70,000 counterfeit pills of pressed Xanax with a street value of about $4 per pill; 200 to 300 postal shipping boxes containing various amounts of Xanax pills packaged in Mylar bags; three industrial-size pill presses; two electronic mixers; and an electronic pill counter, according to the warrant.

Authorities were later able to access Yensan's bitcoin account and found the equivalent of $715,150 in it.

Yensan will be sentenced later on the charges.