Albany Woman Pleads Guilty to Sending Synthetic Cannabinoids Into Correctional Institutions Disguised as Legal Mail

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Maya McIntosh, age 33, of Albany, pled guilty today to conspiracies to manufacture, distribute, and possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance and controlled substance analogue, distribution and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and controlled substance analogue, and unlawful possession and use of a means of identification.

United States Attorney John A. Sarcone III; Ketty Larco-Ward, Inspector in Charge of the Boston Division of the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS); and Erin Keegan, Special Agent in Charge of the Buffalo Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), made the announcement.

According to the plea agreement, beginning no later than January 2023 through July 2024, the defendant manufactured, distributed, and possessed with intent to distribute the substance MDMB-4en-PINACA, and conspired to do so with others. MDMB-4en-PINACA is a synthetic cannabinoid. McIntosh ordered constituent chemicals, which were shipped to the residences of McIntosh and a coconspirator. McIntosh combined those chemicals in her residence to create MDMB-4en-PINACA, which was in liquid form. McIntosh then sprayed and soaked the liquid onto copy paper and business envelopes. McIntosh placed those documents into U.S. Priority Mail Express envelopes addressed to inmates at various correctional facilities in New York. McIntosh disguised the envelopes as legal mail by stamping the names of actual attorneys in the return address portion of the envelopes, without the attorneys’ knowledge or permission, to make it appear is if the parcels were sent by attorneys and contained legitimate legal paperwork instead of a controlled substance. McIntosh used social media to sell the sheets and envelopes soaked in MDMB-4en-PINACA to others. McIntosh’s customers paid her to mail the MDMB-4en-PINACA-soaked papers to inmates at the facilities.

McIntosh faces a maximum term of 20 years’ imprisonment on each count. She also faces a maximum fine of $1 million on the drug counts and a fine of $250,000 on the remaining counts. McIntosh also faces a term of supervised release of at least 3 years and up to life. A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statutes the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other factors.

USPIS and HSI are investigating the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew J. McCrobie is prosecuting the case.