‘Drug Llama’ accused in Illinois of fentanyl trafficking

FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS — Prosecutors say a 31-year-old San Diego, California, woman who went by the online alias “The Drug Llama” faces federal charges in southern Illinois in a conspiracy that included the shipment of more than 50,000 fentanyl pills nationwide.

The U.S. attorney’s office in southern Illinois said Tuesday that Melissa Scanlan used hard-to-access parts of the internet known as the dark web to distribute the misbranded fentanyl starting in 2016. Some pills ended up in southern Illinois.

If convicted of the charges as they stand now, she could face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.

A judge at a detention hearing in California on Monday ordered Scanlan held at least until she is taken to Illinois. The court docket in southern Illinois didn’t yet identify any defense attorneys.