He ran a drug trafficking market called 'rickandmortyshop.' Now he is going to jail

They billed themselves online as “rickandmortyshop” and shipped stuffed animals across the country, but federal investigators say the suspects running the darknet business were shipping toys laced with methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin.

On Thursday, Jerrell Eugene Anderson, a 34-year-old from Santa Clarita and the alleged leader of the ring, was sentenced to 96 months in federal prison for the scheme, the US Attorney's office announced.

Anderson and his associates used darknet marketplaces to sell the drugs, prosecutors said, sending stuffed animals to US post offices. The darknet is a part of the internet that can only be accessed with special software.

On the darknet, the ring advertised its illegal business with monikers such as “Drugpharmacist” and “rickandmortyshop,” in reference to popular adult cartoons, according to prosecutors.

The group used hideouts in the San Fernando Valley to deliver drugs hidden in stuffed animals.

The program started at least July 2018 until March 2019.

In August 2018, prosecutors said, one of those packages reached a customer in Knoxville, Tenn., who died after using heroin.

Anderson pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, possession of heroin with intent to distribute, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

Other defendants in the investigation, including Christopher Canion Von Holton, 37; Kenneth Lashawn Hadley, 37; Adan Sepulveda; and Jackie Walter Burns, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, according to the US Department of Justice.