CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA - A Michigan man has received prison time after he admitted to ordering drugs online and shipping them to a friend, who later died.

Jay Rickert, 28, of Grand Rapids was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison by U.S. District Court Judge Linda R. Reade in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Oct. 11. He pleaded guilty to willfully causing the distribution of a controlled substance on June 14.

"Opioid abuse remains at an all-time high and these dangerous drugs wreak havoc on lives and communities," said United States Attorney Pete Deegan in a statement.

"Street drugs - including those sold over the internet - routinely contain powerful opioids. These drugs have never been deadlier and anyone caught distributing them will be held accountable."

According to information disclosed at sentencing and in sentencing documents, Rickert admitted to ordering DMT, an illegal hallucinogenic drug, from the dark web. Rickert then had the drugs shipped directly to his friend, a 22-year-old woman who lived in Dubuque, Iowa.

He also shipped a precise digital scale to the woman, and provided her detailed instructions on the quantity of DMT she could safely use, according to court documents.



Unbeknownst to either Rickert or the woman in Dubuque, the dark web supplier shipped fentanyl instead of DMT. DMT and Fentanyl are nearly identical in appearance.

The woman, believing the substance to be DMT, used the fentanyl and died. Rickert was talking to the woman over Skype while she used the fentanyl. After seeing her fall over, Rickert called 911. An autopsy later concluded that the cause of death was a fentanyl overdose.



Rickert had no criminal history prior to this conviction, according to a news release.