Wickd Tan LLC out of Massachusetts, USA has been shutdown after being linked to a known underground lab (UGL) – MuscleHead320.
Criminal enterprises pick all different kinds of businesses to act as legitimate fronts for the underground operations, but not many of them choose to build up tanning salons – and then brag about the overwhelming success of those operations on social media – which inevitably brings down more heat than they ever could have expected.
This is exactly what happened to Melissa Sclafani when she chose to go into business with Mr. Tyler Baumann (known online as MuscleHead320).
Wicked Tan LLC was established in early 2016, and was incorporated in the state of Massachusetts as an operation that would run a number of different tanning salons throughout the state.
In reality, however, Sclafani was simply using this legitimate looking business as nothing more than a front to move money around and launder it for an underground laboratory operation selling counterfeit anabolic steroids – an operation run by Tyler Baumann, known online as MuscleHead320.
Based out of the town of Beverly, business records show that Sclafani owned this tanning salon company with Baumann. While a tanning salon location was a part of this business operation, when investigators dug a little bit deeper into its own financial records they uncovered that the financial success this business was enjoying had next to nothing to do with tanning and everything to do with the illicit trafficking of controlled substances and steroids.
Interestingly enough investigators were alerted to dig a little bit deeper into Wicked Tan primarily because of the social media activity of MuscleHead320 online. Baumann apparently bragged regularly about the overwhelming financial success of his tanning salon business, and individuals that knew the success of this business wasn’t tied to tanning at all (but to the distribution of drugs) turned him in because of the incessant bragging.
Baumann even went so far as to brag online that the overwhelming success he enjoyed at Wicked Tan was proof that he wouldn’t ever have to resort to distributing anabolic steroids, claims that he made online all on his own volition and completely unprovoked.
According to prosecutors, Sclafani made a number of substantial cash deposits and withdrawls designed to launder the money that had been generated by the underground laboratory operation producing counterfeit steroids. On top of that, Sclafani was also accused of using corporate checking accounts for this tanning company to purchase laboratory production equipment used in the creation of these counterfeit steroids.
Prosecutors build their case over a two-year block of time, culminating in sentencing that came down in April 2018. Sclafani pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids and to knowingly using counterfeit marks, and also pled guilty to international money laundering charges – all part of a plea deal that allowed her to serve just one year and one day in prison.
Sclafani contributed a considerable amount of evidence against Baumann (as well as another partner, Mr. Philip Goodwin), with both of these individuals being sentenced to 120 months and 130 months in prison, respectively.
ICE special agents were responsible for leading the charge in this drug bust, working closely with the DEA, Massachusetts State Police, and local Beverly Police Department officials. Apparently, Sclafani, her husband, and her sister all received more than 25 shipments of anabolic steroids from international steroid sources, though the husband and the sister were never charged with crimes and weren’t convicted, either.
The US District Court judge Nathaniel Gordon handed down the sentences in April 2018. It’s likely that Sclafani will be able to shorten her sentence for good behavior, though Baumann and Goodwin are anticipated to serve the entirety of their sentence.
Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/saugus-man-pleads-guilty-role-counterfeit-steroid-conspiracy