Hartford — Two 34-year-old men, including one from Norwich, were sentenced in federal court this week for "conspiring to manufacture counterfeit Xanax tablets and anabolic steroids, and distribute the controlled substances on the dark web," according to John H. Durham, U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut.

U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson sentenced William Fusco of Philadelphia to 20 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and Jason Chen of Norwich to three years of probation, including home confinement for the initial three months, according to the news release.

Both had pleaded guilty in December 2017 to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, controlled substances, and one count of possession of a tableting machine or any equipment used to manufacture a controlled substance, according to the release.

"In pleading guilty, they admitted that they conspired to distribute more than 213,000 counterfeit Xanax tablets and thousands of units of anabolic steroids," the release states.

Fusco had marketed Xanax and steroid pills on online market AlphaBay and other so-called darknet forums accessible only anonymously through specialized tools, and paid Chen to keep two pill presses at his home and help manufacture and distribute the counterfeit substances, according to the news release, which cited court documents and testimony. The substances were made from chemicals that Fusco had shipped to Chen's home, and Fusco mixed and pressed chemicals several times at Chen's home.

Chen packaged and dropped off the packages into U.S. Postal Service collection boxes, after receiving emailed directions from Fusco on the type of product, quantity and the customer's mailing address and a link to a prepaid shipping label, the release stated. Chen shipped about 30 packages a week for several months, receiving $10 to $20 in Bitcoin per package from Fusco.

Chen's home had two industrial pill tableting machines, tool and dye molds, one electric powder mixer/hopper, about 65,122 Xanax tablets, about 792 grams of Alprazolam powder, about 12,000 steroid capsules, hundreds of liquid steroid vials and about $8,900 in cash, the release stated. The items were found during a court-approved search.

According to the news release, the residence of Fusco, who was arrested on a federal criminal complaint on June 16, 2017, was found to have tool and dye molds, electronic scales, chemistry equipment, pill capsules, steroid bottle caps, other items used to process and package controlled substances, $42,448 in cash, eight firearms and ammunition found during a court-authorized search.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Vanessa Richards prosecuted.