Dutch man admits in California to running drug hub
Dutch man pleads guilty in Los Angeles to running online drug hub that sold ecstasy, pot, more
9/3/2014LOS ANGELES — A Dutch national has pleaded guilty in Los Angeles to operating an online drug marketplace that sold LSD, ecstasy, marijuana and more.
A U.S. attorney’s statement says 45-year-old Marc Peter Willems entered the plea to federal drug trafficking and money laundering charges Wednesday.
He faces up to life in prison if convicted.
Willems was arrested in 2012 at his home in the Netherlands and brought to Los Angeles, where the case was filed because some customers and an undercover agent who bought drugs through the marketplace — known as “The Farmer’s Market” — are from the area.
Willems is one of eight people indicted in the case, and the sixth to plead guilty. One other defendant has since died, and the other has agreed to plead guilty next week.