Brockton Man, Member Of Dark Web Drug Ring Gets 2 Years In Prison: Feds

A 26-year-old Brockton man who pleaded guilty to being part of a sophisticated and popular dark web drug empire will spend 28 months in prison, authorities said.

Steven McCall was sentenced to just over two years on Wednesday, Sept. 28, after he pleaded guilty to manufacturing and dealing ecstasy, Ketamine, and Xanax along with two other men, the US Attorney General for Massachusetts said. He must also give up a 2012 BMW that authorities said he paid for with drug money. 

The government asked the judge for a much harsher penalty of just under six years behind bars, but Senior District Court Judge Rya W. Zobel settled on the lighter punishment. 

Prosecutors said McCall, Binh Thanh Le, and Allante Pires, all of Brockton, sold drugs on a dark web marketplace under the name “EastSideHigh.” Investigators said the men sold cocaine, MDMA, Ketamine, and Xanax to people all over the country. They would ship the drugs through the mail after being paid in Bitcoin, officials alleged. 

McCall, Le, and Pires rented office space at 1749 Central St. in Stoughton to warehouse the drugs they sold, prosecutors said. When investigators raided their headquarters in 2019, they found McCall wearing latex gloves and a respirator as he had just finished packaging an order, officials said. 

Officers found nearly 40 pounds of MDMA, 15 pounds of Ketamine, almost two pounds of cocaine, more than 10,000 fake Xanax pills, and $114,000 in cash, authorities said. They also found a computer that had the EastSideHigh vendor page open on it, the prosecutor told the court. 

A judge sentenced Le to eight years in prison earlier this year. He must also forfeit 59 Bitcoin (more than $1.1 million), $114,000 in cash, and $42,000 that represents the amount he spent on a 2018 BMW M3, officials said. 

Pires will spend 28 months in prison, and he must forfeit a 2013 Mercedes E that prosecutors said he used drug money to buy. 

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