El Dorado County man sentenced 10 years in prison for distributing a drug that caused the death of a minor

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Elijah Richter, 28, of Camino, was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller to 10 years in prison for distribution of a controlled substance known as n25i-nBOME that caused a death, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Daniel C. Comeaux announced.

According to court documents, during September 2012, Richter imported hallucinogenic drugs, including a controlled substance known as n25i-nBOME, from Europe to his residence in El Dorado County by placing orders on his computer through Silk Road, a now-defunct darknet website.

Through Silk Road, Richter was able to use bitcoin currency and an anonymous interface to execute drug deals. Shortly before September 8, 2012, Richter imported a number of doses of n25i‑nBOME from Europe. Richter then distributed some of that n25i-nBOME to Jesse Roberts. Roberts, in turn, distributed some of that n25i-nBOME to a juvenile male who took four doses of the n25inBOME and died as a result of an overdose on the drug. DEA and the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office served a search warrant at Richter’s home and recovered 2.61 grams of MDMA, three digital scales, 3.81 grams of suspected hash oil, 42.25 grams of marijuana, 89 pink colored tabs of suspected 25i-nBome on paper, and seven additional tabs of suspected 25i-nBome in aluminum foil, as well as a handwritten list of drugs and their proper dosage units. Richter admitted to supplying the hits of n25i-nBome that killed the juvenile.

When Richter pleaded guilty on January 13, 2020, he admitted that he imported doses of n25i‑nBOME for the purpose of distributing that substance to others for human consumption and some of those doses ultimately were distributed and led to the juvenile’s overdose death in September 2012.

The El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office prosecuted Roberts. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter on March 3, 2017, and sentenced to six years in prison.

This case was the product of an investigation by the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office, the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office, and the Drug Enforcement Administration as part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). The OCDETF Program was established in 1982 to conduct comprehensive, multilevel attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nation’s drug supply. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jason Hitt and Paul A. Hemesath prosecuted the case.