Dream Market Vendor “Rackjaw2” Sentenced to Prison

A 52-year-old from Everett, Washington, was sentenced to four years in prison for selling methamphetamine and heroin on the darkweb.

U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran announced that a U.S. District Court judge in Seattle had sentenced Todd Peterman-Dishion, 52, to four years in prison and four years of supervised release. Peterman-Dishion, in December 2019, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. In the plea agreement, the Peterman-Dishion admitted that he had owned and operated a vendor account on Dream Market under the username “Rackjaw2.”

“This defendant was busily sending packages of powerful and deadly drugs out into our communities as often as twice a day,” said U.S. Attorney Moran. “He posted on the dark web that his drugs were powerful and potentially deadly, but even with that knowledge he had no hesitation sending them to addicts he knew only by their screen name and address.”

Michael Fischlin, a Postal Inspector with the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), explained that USPIS and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had launched an investigation into darkweb vendors operating in the Seattle area. Both USPIS and the FBI jointly investigated the operator of the “Rackjaw2” account on Dream Market.

Beginning around October 2018 and continuing through December 2018, employees with the FBI ordered drugs on several occasions from the vendor on Dream Market. In total, the FBI purchased approximately 28 grams of methamphetamine. Rackjaw2’s vendor profile advertised a Wickr account through which customers could directly purchase drugs, including heroin and methamphetamine. Undercover FBI employees purchased drugs from the vendor’s Wickr profile on several occasions, which totaled approximately 84 grams of methamphetamine and six grams of heroin. The process was largely the same as the process described in the article about the vendor “Imperial Royalty.” The vendor provided customers (both real customers as well as the FBI employees) with a Bitcoin wallet address. Customers would send the amount of Bitcoin requested by the vendor. The vendor would then ship drugs to the address provided by the customer.

Inspector Fischlin, after describing the undercover purchases, wrote that law enforcement officers conducted physical surveillance at a Post Office identified as a Post Office used by Rackjaw2 to ship contraband. The complaint makes a leap from FBI employees conducting undercover purchases to LEOs identifying Peterman-Dishion at the Bitter Lake Post Office in Seattle. Perhaps some pertinent information never made it into the complaint. The surveillance team identified Peterman-Dishion as he exited a Chrysler PT Cruiser and carried seven packages inside the Post Office. The complaint does not explain how the surveillance team knew to identify the driver of the PT Cruiser. A search of Washington State Licensing records revealed that the vehicle belonged to one of Peterman-Dishion’s “family members” (the vehicle apparently belonged to his daughter).

A Postal Inspector collected the packages Peterman-Dishion had dropped off and detained one, which was subsequently opened pursuant to a federal search warrant. The package contained 13.9 grams of heroin. The surveillance team followed the PT Cruiser to the parking lot of a hotel in Everett. Investigators spoke with the hotel management and learned that their suspect had been living at the hotel with a woman identified as “Z.D.” since October 2018. Other court documents identified Z.D. as Peterman-Dishion’s wife (who oddly is referenced in court documents as Joni rather than a name that begins with the letter “Z”).

In May 2019, agents installed an electronic tracking device on the PT Cruiser.

“The tracking device revealed that, from approximately May 3, 2019 to May 20, 2019, the PT Cruiser had driven from the Everett hotel to POs in the Seattle metropolitan area multiple times. A Postal Inspector reviewed security footage for several of these visits. The footage showed Peterman-Dishion entering the Post Office and shipping Express or Priority Mail envelopes. Postal business records revealed that the shipping labels used in the transactions completed by Peterman-Dishion bore return names known to agents from seized shipments associated with [the vendor account].”

Later in May, undercover employees with the FBI placed an order with Rawjack2 for 57 grams of methamphetamine. They ordered through the vendor’s Wickr account. “On May 17, 2019, the tracking device attached to the PT Cruiser showed that the vehicle traveled directly from the parking lot of the Everett hotel to the Mill Creek PO […]. Security footage from the Mill Creek PO revealed that at approximately 2:21 pm, a woman entered the PO and mailed two parcels. The woman strongly resembled the individual depicted in the driver’s license photograph for Z.D.”

One of the packages mailed by the person who “strongly resembled the individual depicted in the driver license photograph for Z.D.” was a Priority Express Mail package. The package later ended up at the undercover mailing address the FBI had used during the investigation. The package contained 58 grams of methamphetamine.

Investigators obtained a search warrant for Peterman-Dishion’s room at the hotel in Everett where he had been living with his wife. During the search, agents found:

• distribution-quantity amounts of black-tar heroin;
• crystal methamphetamine;
• and 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine;
• packaging materials;
• drug paraphernalia;
• a scale;
• a trash bag containing used packing materials;
• used rubber gloves;
• Mylar bags;
• USPS envelopes;
• and a piece of paper with handwritten user names.

The piece of paper with handwritten usernames included the name provided by the undercover FBI employee when purchasing methamphetamine from Rawjack2 on Wickr.

Peterman-Dishion waived his Miranda rights and confessed to everything:

Peterman-Dishion admitted to agents that he was the dark web vendor [Rawjack2] on Dream Market. Peterman-Dishion stated that he sold drugs in exchange for bitcoins. Peterman-Dishion stated he took the [Rawjack2] profile picture photograph found on Dream Market with his mobile phone. Peterman-Dishion also indicated he operated the Wickr account OL007D.

The search warrant allowed investigators to search electronic devices found in the room. They found Peterman-Dishion’s LG X™ series phone. On the phone, they found an app with a Bitcoin wallet labeled “Rawjack.” They also found pictures that matched pictures found on the Rawjack2 profile on Dream Market. The defendant admitted that he had used the phone to take a picture of a skull that he had later uploaded to Dream Market as his profile picture. Investigators found the skull picture in question and matched it to the Rawjack profile.

They also found pictures of heroin and methamphetamine that Peterman-Dishion had used as pictures in some of his listings on the marketplace.

Peterman-Dishion will spend the next four years in federal prison and another four years on supervised release once he completes his prison sentence.