A Florida man by the name of Chaloner Saintillus failed to follow the most simple OpSEC guidelines and used an abbreviation of his name as his Darknet Market vendor name. Although he ended his career with a 98% positive feedback rating, he failed to evade the authorities. He now faces a maximum of 20 years. Here’s what happened to darknet vendor “Chlnsaint.”
Who was Chlnsaint
Chlnsaint was a darknet vendor on Empire Market. This particular darknet market vendor processed over 1100 sales during his time and sold all kinds of opioids including fentanyl, carfentanyl, oxycodone, Xanax, and oxymorphone. There is evidence to say he attempted to open shop via DarkMarket, but was banned for selling Fentanyl. Most markets don’t allow this particular opioid.
This Florida Man continued to sell his opioids until the demise of Empire Market. Although he didn’t open shop anywhere else, it was too late. The feds had found him.
Between April and October 2020, a Californian task force made 12 purchases from username “chlnsaint.” During their investigations, they identified Chaloner Saintillus. They confirmed this with surveillance footage from USPIS (US Postal Inspection Service). They then coordinated a proper investigation into Saintillus and found financial, package tracking and photographic records linking the suspect to the crimes.
Arresting a Darknet Vendor
Once they were sure that they’d found the correct individual (If his username wasn’t enough proof) the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force (NCIJTF) issued a warrant for Saintillus. Included with the arrest was a warrant to search his Florida residence. Here the authorities seized:
- Various narcotics
- Over $25,000 in cryptocurrencies (XRP and BTC)
- 1 Pistol
- 1 suitcase full of ammunition.
The fentanyl epidemic is a crisis that demands our full attention. This poison targets our young people, causing untold damage to families, neighbourhoods, and our entire nation. We are fighting back. We have dramatically ramped up our efforts to stem the flow of narcotics, to vigorously prosecute those directly responsible for peddling this poison, and to respond in innovative ways to improve public safety and educate the public.
U.S. Attorney Estrada said.
According to court documents, Saintillus made attempts to set bail and to have the charges dropped. Once these requests were denied, he became unresponsive to his lawyer. Most of his court arraignments were via a video call due to the pandemic; during these meetings, he seemed to be resting his head on the table in front of him, with his eyes were closed, and he did not respond to the court’s questions.
On two occasions, Saintillus refused to attend his court proceedings and remained in his cell. However, on April 6, 2023, he finally pleaded guilty to 12 counts of distributing controlled substances into the Eastern District of California using the dark web.
An OpSec Disaster
There is immense importance in a basic fundamental understanding of “Operations Securities” when it comes to darknet markets. This is true for buyers but especially true for vendors. It seems Saintillus missed that class. As he clearly made various mistakes.
- Vendor Name: Chaloner Saintillus used an abbreviation of his name on the Dark Web. “chlnsaint”
- Paid USPS Packages With Card: Instead of using cash to send his packages, he used cards that would trace back to him
- He used chlnsaint as his personal Twitter account handle along with his full name in the bio.
LE Setup Through chlnsaint Account?
There’s a reason the “Florida Man” is so popular. This is because of a Florida Public Records Law that states “it is the policy of the state that all state, county, and municipal records are open for personal inspection and copying by any person. Providing access to public records is a duty of each agency”
This basically means that unless there’s a particular reason for exclusion to the law, everything law related in Florida is made available to the public. This is why the “Florida Man” meme is around. As in the case of Chlnsaint, soon after his arrest, the information on his arrest was made public.
It seems that the Cybercrimes Unit managed to gain access to chlnsaint’s account (I wouldn’t be surprised if his password was abc123) and tried to use it as a honeypot. It’s not clear whether any arrests were made through this method, but atleast one user called them out.
In November 2020, just one month after Saintillus’ arrest, a user by the name “Poopydope” made a Dread Forum post calling out user “chlnsaint’s opiod shop.”
“Chlnsaint was a former vendor on empire and i recently saw he has listings on DM. Looked his vendor name up and found a published gov release showing that. Gonna go ahead and assume that the account is an LE setup because I don’t have his first pgp to try to match. Just a heads up.”
Titled: Don’t buy from Chlnsaint. LE SETUP.
Conclusion
“Saintillus faces a Saintillus faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine on each of the 12 counts to which he pleaded guilty.”
According to U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller
He will receive his official sentence on the next court proceeding. This is just another case on how the US is planning to crack down on Fentanyl. The opioid has the highest death ratio, and the Government has said “enough is enough”
Hey there, I’m a dark web geek who’s been around for the last 8 years. More precisely, I’m livedarknet’s senior content writer who’s been writing about darknet marketplaces, tutorials, and cybersecurity stuff for educational purposes.