A Texas man has been sentenced to four years in federal prison after prosecutors said he sold anabolic steroids online and shipped them through the mail, including to McHenry County.
David E. Hutchinson, 47, of Georgetown, Texas, pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of distributing anabolic steroids.
According to a plea agreement, Hutchinson, who used the name “Robolics,” distributed anabolic steroids through the U.S. mail from at least January 2019 to November 2019.
Hutchinson sold a variety of products containing anabolic steroids.
He advertised the steroids through online forums, both directly and through sales representatives, the plea agreement said.
Hutchinson took orders through email and accepted payment by cash mailed to a fictitious company and also through Bitcoin transfer.
Hutchinson shipped orders of anabolic steroids to customers in multiple states.
The man admitted in the plea agreement that he mailed several packages containing anabolic steroids to a location in Algonquin.
The shipments were for orders that were placed by federal law enforcement acting in an undercover capacity, prosecutors said.
When law enforcement executed a search warrant at Hutchinson’s then-residence in North Carolina on Nov. 21, 2019, they found him in possession of more than 6,900 grams of anabolic steroids in powder form.
Law enforcement also found several U.S. mail packages containing anabolic steroids that Hutchinson had packaged for shipment.
They additionally found various mixing and packaging materials, several firearms, a safe containing more than $88,000 in cash and a cryptocurrency hard wallet containing approximately $87,332 worth of cryptocurrency.
Hutchinson admitted in the plea agreement that he dropped off a package at a post office in North Carolina in November 2019 that contained samples of his product, which he was shipping to Slovakia for chemical analysis.
He also dropped off nine packages containing anabolic steroids that he was mailing to customers at the same post office the following day, the plea agreement said.
U.S. District Judge John Blakey on Thursday sentenced Hutchinson to four years in prison during a hearing in federal court in Rockford.