LCSO: Man charged with using crypto to buy drugs on dark web after parcel search

LEE COUNTY, Fla. — A suspicious package addressed to a 26-year-old Lee County man led to his arrest. The Lee County Sheriff's Office said there were drugs inside and the man paid for them on the dark web using cryptocurrency.

According to Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno, the postal inspector called the sheriff's office about suspicious parcels addressed to Daniel Nestor Pesantes.

The sheriff's office responded and used a K9 to see if anything suspicious was inside.

"What we do then is utilizing a canine and an open air sniff of that package, it detects narcotics and right away we know that we have to build that investigation from there, which led us to a search warrant of the package and a search warrant to the person's house and then the arrests," Marceno said.

Through the investigation, the sheriff's office, along with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, found that Pesantes paid for it on the dark web using crypto.

"The suspects are clever. They're not doing the street level deal," Marcneo said. "What they're doing is they're using cryptocurrency to buy on the dark web, so it's a new challenge for us."

He said there were more than 300 pills inside that consisted of a wide variety of narcotics. LCSO said more drugs were also found at the suspect's home.

The man is facing four drug charges.