BALTIMORE, MD — U.S. District Judge George L. Russell, III sentenced Sean Weston, 56, of Windsor Mill, Maryland, to 15 months in federal prison and two years of supervised release. Weston pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import, transport, and sell drug paraphernalia, as well as tax evasion.
The sentencing was announced by multiple federal and local agencies, including the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Washington Division, the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Washington, D.C. Field Office, and the Baltimore Police Department.
According to his guilty plea, from January 2015 to at least July 2019, Weston operated Northwest Variety store. The store sold items such as empty gel capsules, metal strainers, and electric weighing scales, along with mannite and quinine, substances often used as drug cutting agents.
Weston admitted to purchasing hundreds of kilograms of quinine from China. Quinine is legally approved only as a prescription medication for uncomplicated malaria. Weston concealed his quinine purchases by requesting his foreign suppliers to mislabel the shipments as “beta glucan.”
Weston also admitted to tax evasion for the years 2016 through 2018. He failed to file federal income tax returns despite owning the profitable Northwest Variety Store and being employed at a water treatment facility. Weston conducted his financial transactions largely in cash to evade taxes.
For example, between 2016 and 2018, he paid $29,835 in cash for the monthly rent of his store and deposited $352,026 in cash into two personal bank accounts. He also made large cash down payments for luxury cars in both 2016 and 2017.
By failing to report his income, Weston caused a tax loss of more than $98,000 to the United States.