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CHARLOTTE — U.S. Attorney Andrew Murray announced Friday that Marcus Lenard Armstrong, 35, of McDonough, Georgia, was sentenced to 120 months in prison and three years of supervised release on drug trafficking conspiracy charges, for buying the deadly synthetic opioid U-47700 on the dark web using cryptocurrency.

According to filed court documents, from November 2016 to January 2018, Armstrong engaged in a conspiracy to traffic the lethal synthetic opioid. Court records show that in June 2017, Armstrong arranged for a package containing the deadly opioid to be mailed to a residential address in Charlotte. Over the course of the investigation, police determined that Armstrong was using cryptocurrency to purchase U-47700 on multiple dark web markets that sell and purchase illegal drugs.

On June 30, 2017, police visited the residence in Charlotte to which the parcel was addressed and spoke with an individual who admitted to accepting packages for a “family friend,” later identified as Armstrong. Police seized the package and confirmed that it contained 1,003.38 grams of the U-47700 drug. Court records show that two more packages were scheduled for delivery to the same residential address.