A pharmacist and a drug abuser who met while playing online video games were sentenced to federal prison on Friday after admitting to a pl...
A pharmacist and a drug abuser who met while playing online video games were sentenced to federal prison on Friday after admitting to a plot to firebomb a Nebraska pharmacy to benefit their own online black market drug dealing.
William Burgamy, 33, of Hanover, Maryland, was sentenced to 14 years in prison while his accomplice, Hyrum Wilson, 41, of Auburn, Nebraska, will spend the next 9 years of his life behind bars.
In July, the two men pleaded guilty to a fantastical and convoluted plot to firebomb Cody's U-Save Pharmacy in Auburn.
With Cody's reduced to firewood, more business would flow to its competitor in town, Hyrum's Family Value Pharmacy.
William Burgamy (left), 33, of Hanover, Maryland, pleaded guilty to operating an illicit online drug dealing website and engaging in extensive plans to bomb and burn down a pharmacy in Nebraska that competed with his supplier, pharmacist Hyrum Wilson (right), 41. Burgamy was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Wilson was given nine years behind bars
Burgamy was arrested in April on charges of illegal drug distribution and money laundering for allegedly selling oxycodone, right, Vicodin, Percocet, Xanax, left, and other drugs on darknet
That would allow Wilson to divert more drugs to his online gaming buddy, Burgamy, without drawing suspicion of federal regulators.
Then Burgamy could sell even more drugs on his internet black market website, NeverPressedRx.
Defense lawyers suggested the plan, which they dubbed 'Operation Firewood,' was so hare-brained that it would never have come to fruition, and was a product of the men's clouded judgment from their own drug and mental-health issues.
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Prosecutors, though, highlighted the very real steps the men took over several months to carry out the plan.
Burgamy amassed a stockpile of weapons including multiple AR-15 rifles and told a would-be accomplice to get measured for body armor.
The FBI staked out Burgamy and photographed him as he made trips to local post offices, where he allegedly mailed prescription drugs to various dark web clients
Burgamy sold and shipped narcotics to undercover FBI agents pretending to be his dark web clients
An FBI affidavit states Burgamy, who is not a pharmacist by training, operated his business called NeverPressedRX (NPRX) on a major darknet market since at least August 2019
Wilson provided Burgamy with a color-coded getaway map.
'This wasn't something he concocted while watching Ozark or Breaking Bad,' prosecutor Raj Parekh said at Burgamy's hearing on Friday.
The 33-year-old Burgamy has a young daughter. He was facing up to 40 years in prison
'This is something he was planning for months.'
Judge T.S. Ellis III, who sentenced the pair, agreed.
'It was not simply some scheme in their minds,' he said.
'They took significant, concrete steps to carry out this plan.'
Both men apologized for their actions at Friday's hearings. Wilson offered an apology to Cody Kuszak, the owner of Cody's U-Save.
'I wasn't thinking of anybody but myself,' Wilson said.
Kuszak, in a written victim impact statement, said he remains bewildered as to why he was targeted.
'It stings every time I introduce myself to a stranger and they follow it with "Hey, aren't you the pharmacist they tried blowing up?",' he said.
'Why? Why me? What had I done to them? ... Why would someone want to do this to me and my staff?'
Burgamy presented himself on mainstream social media platforms as a legitimate businessman operating a financial consulting firm
Wilson's lawyer, Joe Howard, argued that Burgamy was the driving force behind the plot.
He manipulated the online friendship the two had formed playing video games, borrowing nearly $100,000 from Wilson when they had not met face-to-face and later cajoling Wilson into sending him drugs.
Wilson, suffering from social disorders, was unwilling to say no to a man he considered his only friend, Howard argued.
'He knows what he did was wrong ... but it's mitigation as to why he couldn't say no, why he couldn't get out of it,' Howard said.
While prosecutors agreed Burgamy bore greater responsibility for the plot, Parekh called Wilson a 'greedy and crooked pharmacist who wanted to wipe out his competition.'
Prior to the drug and firebombing scheme, Wilson and Burgamy were partners in a skin-care product called Scargenix.
Prior to the drug and firebombing scheme, Wilson and Burgamy were partners in a skin-care product called Scargenix. Last year, Wilson appeared on an infomercial with supermodel Kathy Ireland
Ireland hosted Wilson, who was hawking a skin care product that was said to remove scars
In a 10-minute infomercial hosted by model Kathy Ireland, Wilson hawks a lotion for reducing scarring, featuring testimonials from Burgamy and Burgamy's mother.
Burgamy was arrested in April and charged with drug crimes for operating a site on a part of the internet known as the Darknet, selling hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of illicit prescription drugs.
It was after the arrest that authorities discovered the firebomb plot. Both pleaded guilty a few months later.
Prosecutors had sought a 15-year term for Burgamy and 11 years for Wilson.
It is not completely clear how much money the two made during the eight or nine months their website was operating in 2019 and 2020.
Burgamy agreed to forfeit at least $300,000 in proceeds, but prosecutor Parekh said at an earlier hearing that a profit-and-loss statement drawn up by Burgamy showed him grossing nearly $1million.
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