A Mexican man is facing new charges in Chicago’s federal court alleging he shipped a powerful sedative used in state-sanctioned executions to buyers around the world seeking to end their lives, including one who was promised the drug could assure a “peaceful exit.”
Daniel Gonzalez-Munguia, 40, was charged in superseding indictment filed this week with importing and distributing a controlled substance, which carries up to 60 years in prison if convicted.
Gonzalez-Munguia, of Puebla, Mexico, was arrested in 2021 on the initial charges, which were superseded by the new indictment this week, records show. No arraignment has yet been scheduled.
His attorney, Darryl A. Goldberg, told the Tribune in an email Thursday that his client “is presumptively innocent” and intends to “address this through the legal process and not through the media at this time.”
“This indictment involves a controversial subject matter with strong opinions on both sides,” Goldberg wrote.
Gonzalez-Munguia is accused of the widespread sale of pentobarbital, a tightly controlled drug that has been used to carry out lethal injections.
It is commercially available in Mexico for purposes of euthanizing animals, but is regulated in the U.S., the U.S. attorney’s office said in a news release Thursday. The drug is controversial for use in executions; some have alleged it carries a risk of significant pain and suffering, according to The Associated Press.
Gonzalez-Munguia allegedly operated a lucrative online business shipping the drug around the world, and at least two people in the Chicago area died by suicide after buying from him, authorities allege.
According to a 2016 affidavit by a U.S. Department of Homeland Security special agent, the investigation began in 2016 when authorities intercepted a UPS package containing pentobarbital sodium in Kentucky that was addressed to a hotel in suburban Libertyville.
The intended recipient, identified as Individual A, told agents he was despondent after his wife told him she wanted a divorce. While living at the hotel, he’d paid for an online manual, “which he described as essentially a ‘how to guide on committing suicide,'” the affidavit stated.
The manual contained a Yahoo email address “for an individual who could provide drugs to assist readers who wanted to kill themselves,” and after some back-and-forth, Individual A sent $644 to Mexico to purchase two vials of the drug, according to the affidavit. The man said he eventually got over his depression and was no longer suicidal.
According to the charges, a search of Gonzalez-Munguia’s email account revealed numerous exchanges with people seeking to buy the drug, including questions about dosage and details on how to wire the payments.
One of those was Individual T, a 26-year-old Mount Prospect resident who sent an introductory email to Gonzalez-Munguia on Aug. 28, 2015, according to the affidavit.
“Hello, I was thinking about purchasing the product. I was wondering how much I will need for my body weight?” the email read, according to the charges. “Do you think one bottle would be enough to kill me? Or should I be safe and order two? Thanks in advance.”
Records show Individual T wired $558 to a currency exchange in Puebla, Mexico, three days later. Individual T was found dead at his home later that year with a suicide note located near the body, the charges stated. The Cook County medical examiner’s office ruled the cause of death was pentobarbital toxicity.
In April 2016, the HSI agent used a fake name to contact Gonzalez-Munguia in hopes of making an undercover buy, the affidavit stated.
Gonzalez-Munguia directed him to a website advertising houses for rent near Cancun: “just play a long about renting a house, this is to not me looking suspicious with Paypal,” he allegedly wrote.
The agent sent about $400 via PayPal, and in exchange, the affidavit states, Gonzalez-Munguia sent a package whose contents were declared to be a “hot wheels collectible car toy” with a value of $5.
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Inside, though, was a bottle of pentobarbital and some anti-nausea pills, the affidavit states. Gonzalez-Munguia’s fingerprints were found on the box that contained the bottle as well as on a piece of tape on the package, according to the affidavit.
Western Union records show that from July 2013 to April 2016, about 69 people from around the world wired money to Gonzalez-Munguia, totaling more than $41,000, according to the affidavit. And according to PayPal records, email addresses associated with Gonzalez-Munguia have collected more than $322,000 in payments “believed to be related to pentobarbital purchases.”