A Springfield man who pleaded guilty to selling large amounts of drugs — including the “date-rape drug” — to buyers all over the United States using the dark web was sentenced Thursday to serve 10 years in a federal prison.
The dark web is a part of the internet that isn’t visible to search engines and requires specific software to access.
Andrew Mitchell, 45, was originally charged in October 2021 and later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and being a felon in possession of a firearm (both Class C felonies).
According to the plea agreement, Mitchell admitted to selling heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and 1,4 Butandediol using a dark web marketplace called White House Market.
1,4 Butandediol is used as a source of gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), a recreational drug with euphoric and sedative effects. GHB is often referred to as the “date-rape drug.”
“You were running a virtual supermarket of illegal drugs,” Judge M. Douglas Harpool said to Mitchell during Mitchell's sentencing hearing in a Springfield courtroom.
Addiction fueled the drug dealing
Mitchell’s attorney, Thomas Carver, called his client a “poster child for addiction” and claimed the crimes were examples of the “length people will go to feed their addiction.”
Mitchell lost a brother and a sister to fatal drug overdoses, and he has family members who also struggle with addiction, Carver said.
“Mitchell inherited some of those genes and predispositions when he was born,” Carver said. “In a lot of ways, Andrew is a victim as much as he is a criminal.”
Mitchell, too, told the judge about losing his brother and sister to overdoses. He vowed to stay clean for the rest of his life, because he doesn’t want his mother to lose another child.
Mitchell said he was “sick and ashamed beyond words” and wanted to express “sorrow and regret to the people I’ve harmed. … Drugs have destroyed my life.”
“The years I spent clean were filled with joy and prosperity,” Mitchell said, adding that he made a religious conversion to Christianity in 2020 and had become “kinder, more patient, more humble,” in the years that have passed.
Mitchell said he has a bachelor’s degree in biological science from the University of Missouri. Mitchell also attended Ozarks Technical Community College, taking computer and technology classes.
“I’ve struggled. I’ve failed many times,” Mitchell said. “Give me a chance to prove I can be more — much more than a drug addict.”
Judge: ‘This was not a little enterprise’
Before announcing the sentence, Harpool pushed back on the defense attorney’s claim that Mitchell was selling drugs solely to feed his own addiction.
Mitchell’s operation saw up to $40,000 in transactions and, at the time of his arrest, he had about $10,000 in cryptocurrency holdings, Harpool said.
“This was not a little enterprise,” Harpool said, adding that Mitchell could have sold far fewer drugs than he did and still feed his personal addiction.
“You were very much into the profit lifestyle of a drug dealer and you were smart enough to know what you were doing,” Harpool said. “You’re clearly intelligent and capable and that is what makes your case frustrating for society.”
Harpool said he has compassion for people struggling with addiction and believes society would be better, “if we treated people rather than put them in jail and prison.”
“But you are here for dealing, not using,” the judge said to Mitchell.
Harpool then spoke about the reason drug trafficking convictions carry stiff prison sentences under federal guidelines.
“There’s victims out there and I have a duty to protect those victims,” Harpool said. “What effect does heroin have on peoples’ lives? What effect does Oxycodone have on peoples’ lives? What effect does methamphetamine have on peoples’ lives? … The date-rape drug — what effect does that have on peoples’ lives? The bottom line is there are victims.”
Harpool listed Mitchell’s past convictions, which included multiple DWIs, three assaults, two stealing convictions, passing bad checks, forgery and drug possession convictions.
“I don’t read all those just to be critical,” Harpool said. “I do that to point out every one of those was an opportunity to turn your life around.”
How did the dark web dealer get caught?
According to court documents, FBI agents in Kansas City opened an investigation in May of 2021 into a vendor on the dark web going by the name “Truenextday.”
Over the next few months, FBI agents ordered heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and 1,4 Butandediol from the Truenextday vendor.
Truenextday was later identified as Mitchell.
The FBI also used a buyer account to access White House Market on the darknet to view updates ‘Truenextday’ was posting for buyers. These included messages about ongoing issues with shipping delays and updates on supply.
“The store is back up and running,” Truenextday posted in August of 2021. “Re-ups for proto and BDO (1,4 Butandediol) should land any day now, plus I have multiple brand new products that will blow your mind. This is going to be one of the most impressive collections on the darkweb when I am done.”
A detective with the Greene County Sheriff’s Office got a report from a Springfield business owner on June 3, 2021, that a suspicious package had been returned to his business address. The package was a U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail envelope bearing the return address of the business, but with a man’s name that didn’t match anyone associated with the business.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Lab tested the substance and found the contents to be 28 grams of methamphetamine. The package had been shipped from Springfield to Chicago, but because of an invalid address, the package was returned to the sending address in Springfield.
A U.S. Postal inspector identified the Springfield Mediacom Internet Protocol address (IP address) that was being used to track the package — which belonged to Mitchell.
Also, the United States Customs and Border Protection Mail Targeting Unit identified and seized several packages between May and September of 2021 which were being shipped to Mitchell from someone in Poland named Madej Bartosz Mielec containing more than 25 pounds of 1,4-Butanodio.
Shortly after those packages were seized, the Truenextday vendor — Mitchell — posted on the dark web marketplace updates such as, “BAD BDO NEWS [...] many have been waiting patiently for this, and I wanted to get a jump on processing the orders [...] Well, guess what, the worst possible thing happened. It DIDN’T show up, and the new date is who knows when.”
Judge grants request, offers advice
At the sentencing hearing Thursday, Mitchell asked Judge Harpool if he could request to serve his time in specific federal prisons. He named three federal prisons that offered electrical technology training programs Mitchell hopes to complete.
Harpool said he would recommend Mitchell be sent to one of those prisons, but couldn’t guarantee anything.
Harpool then offered some advice to Mitchell that included completing the 500-hour residential addiction treatment program offered in federal prison and to complete outpatient counseling after he’s released.
“Find people who don’t tolerate drugs,” Harpool said. “You have too much talent to spend the rest of your life in jail.”
