A California man and woman were indicted yesterday, May 18, on charges related to selling large quantities of fentanyl-laced pills and cocaine on various darknet markets between Apr 2021 and May 2023. Brian McDonald and Ciara Clutario, both 22, are accused of creating a series of vendor accounts on AlphaBay, White House Market, and ToRReZ.
While the duo is suspected of operating under a number of online pseudonyms, their most popular vendor name was SouthSideOxy, through which they are thought to have racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales of cocaine and fake Oxycontin “M30” pills which contained fentanyl.
In May 2021, shortly after starting their venture as darknet market vendors, McDonald allegedly texted Clutario, informing her that sales were “flourish(ing),” and in July 2021 texted her “I’m really tryna make like 5 mil.” He also allegedly told an unnamed co-conspirator in late May 2021 that he had already sold over 20,000 pills, approximately one month into his venture as a vendor.
Review of SouthSideOxy fake Oxycontin pills on Dread, from Aug 2021.
McDonald, who was arrested on May 4, also went by the vendor name JefeDeMichoacan on AlphaBay and Versus but quit selling under the moniker in June 2022. Reviews on the Dread forum suggest McDonald and Clutario were active on the former Dark0de marketplace as well under the SouthSideOxy name. According to some reviewers, some of whom were not aware they were purchasing pills laced with fentanyl, the potency of the fake M30s was highly uneven, with some pills producing no effect and other sending buyers to the emergency room.
One buyer who made a purchase of a pill described as an Oxycontin M30 from SouthSideOxy in July 2021 described their experience as follows:
“A few hours after trying my first one (half a 30 then the other half within a half hour) no other drugs…. I woke up in the ambulance to them telling me my body refused 4 nasal Narcan administrations and then it took 2 IV doses of Narcan to start bringing me back….
Well my drop got into my bag without me noticing and he wasn’t as lucky and he passed away nearly the same time I OD’d… Guys please be careful… my man SSO is just working to feed his family or feed his lifestyle like the rest of us. But I DID NOT test them for fent and they did NOT detect fent in me or my friend.” – u/PumpkinSpiceXanax on Dread
McDonald is expected to head back to court on May 25th in Los Angeles, California, with Clutario’s appearance to follow. They face minimum sentences of 15 and 10 years respectively, if convicted, and a maximum sentence of lifetime in prison.