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Michael C. Wozney, a 38-year-old Canadian national from Ontario, was a fugitive when he slung the potentially fatal drug in various dark net marketplaces, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said.
This included hundreds of transactions in the Empire Market, according to a 14-count indictment that Sellinger said was returned by a grand jury in Newark on Jan. 9.
Wozney "advertised the sale of numerous fentanyl products," including items that were described as "close to pure" and "DANGEROUS LEVEL," the U.S. attorney said.
He then shipped the orders to his customers "in a manner that was designed to evade detection and seizure by border officials and other law enforcement authorities," according to a 14-count indictment returned by a grand jury in Newark on Jan. 9, Sellinger said.
"In instances where law enforcement officials seized shipments," Sellinger said, "Wozney reshipped those orders and alerted customers that he was modifying his mailing practices to evade detection."
All the while he was the subject of a Canadian manhunt.
Wozney had smuggled fentanyl into Toronto Pearson International Airport several times already when members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police moved in to arrest him in August 2018, authorities there said.
He recklessly sped off in a vehicle, however, forcing them to pull back out of public safety concerns, they said.
Wozney remained a fugitive for 19 months. He was carrying fentanyl when the RCMP's Toronto Airport Detachment nabbed him trying to get past them again in March 2020. Further investigation uncovered instances of him importing fentanyl and amphetamines several other times, the agency said.
Sellinger credited special agents of Homeland Security Investigations Newark with the investigation leading to the federal indictment in New Jersey -- secured by Assistant U.S. Attorney Vinay S. Limbachia of his Cybercrime Unit -- which charges Wozney with importing and distributing fentanyl in the United States.
He also thanked the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Newark and the FBI's Pittsburgh Division for their assistance.
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