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Ex-Police Officer From Westchester Convicted Of Dealing 'Date Rape' Drug

SLEEPY HOLLOW, N.Y. -- A former police officer from Sleepy Hollow was convicted on Thursday of illegally selling a '"date rape" drug via the Internet, according to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

U.S. District Attorney's Office

U.S. District Attorney's Office

Photo Credit: File photo

Robert Smutek, 52, was convicted of four counts of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Smutek's maximum sentence will be determined by U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Karas.

During his five-day federal trial, Smutek testified that he sold more than 200,000 one-ounce bottles of Potion 9 in a five-year period, reaping well over $1.2 million in revenue.

A jury convicted Smutek -- who was a former drug task force member as a police officer -- of distributing and possessing with intent to distribute an illegal analogue of the date rape drug gamma hydroxybutyric acid, or GHB. 

Smutek was found guilty by a jury after his trial before Judge Karas.

Bharara called Smutek "a modern-day drug dealer, dealing a date rape drug over the Internet out of his suburban home. Despite his bucolic surroundings,"

"Smutek was as much a drug dealer as those who sell on street corners, and he will now face the consequences of running a narcotics enterprise for more than five years,” Bharara said in a press statement

According to the indictment, Smutek operated an Internet website called Online Coral Calcium which sold patent medicines.

Starting in 2009, Smutek was accused of selling “Potion 9” as a “mood enhancer” that supposedly made users feel euphoric. 

According to its label, Potion 9 contained yohimbe, a derivation of a tree root found in South Africa, as well as other natural ingredients. But based on the evidence at trial, Potion 9 actually contained 1,4 butanediol -- an industrial solvent that converted to GHB in the body when ingested.

Smutek was sent to federal prison after the verdict. His sentencing is set for Sept. 8.

The case is being handled by the Office’s White Plains Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Maurene Comey, Douglas Zolkind, and James McMahon are in charge of the prosecution.

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