WILLIAMSPORT – PennLive is reporting…. The federal government claims a Lewisburg business was a front for the manufacture of illegal narcotics. The allegation is contained in a search warrant affidavit filed Wednesday in U.S. Middle District Court in the investigation into the synthesis of illegal narcotics that resulted in the 2019 indictments of three men.
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The affidavit and other court documents state 50-year-old Anthony Bressi, of Danville, admitted he had been selling fentanyl and was making $25,000 a kilogram. The government is seeking permission to search computers and other electronic devices seized June 8, 2019, from SHIVA Science and Technology Group, which was Bressi’s Lewisburg business.
Bressi, Damonico Henderson of Elyria, Ohio, and Terry Harris of Philadelphia, are awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy and possession with intent to deliver controlled substances. Bressi told investigators he began making fentanyl in 2015 at his parents’ home in Elysburg and at his Lewisburg business in 2016, the affidavit states.
He claimed between 2015 and 2017 he manufactured and delivered about 200 kilograms of fentanyl and 3-methylfentanyl to Henderson and Harris, it states. The end product from the distillation the day he was questioned in 2019 would make 200 kilograms of carfentanil worth approximately $3.5 million for a customer who was not a retailer, he told an investigator.
It is the government’s contention that Bressi was not running a legitimate business enterprise, noting evidence showed his personal and business accounts were funded with nearly $2 million in cash. Despite claims he was working with major corporations his bank activity showed no checks or wire transfers from these companies, the affidavit states.
With one exception, SHIVA did not employ people with a science, engineering and technical background, the government says.
A state police forensic scientist concluded that based on a laboratory analysis of the chemicals seized from SHIVA, it was a synthesis laboratory capable of producing fentanyl, acetyl fentanyl and carfentanil, the affidavit states.
Following his arrest, Bressi began actively cooperating with investigators and told them he used information obtained on the Internet to facilitate his production of fentanyl analogues, the government says.
The affidavit details recorded phone calls and trips that Bressi made while under surveillance.
The government’s alleges that proceeds from the criminal drug manufacturing activity were not used to fund legitimate research but rather for luxury items such as cars and jewelry.
Bressi told investigators, according to court documents, at SHIVA he was working on a zero point power unit, a weight stabilization supplement, anti-aging products, an anti-infective product and a laser reflective material.
He also claimed to do consulting work in aerospace, physics, chemistry, optics, and electronics, the document states.
Revenue for SHIVA came from the contract synthesis, consulting work and business loans, Bressi told an investigator.
He recalled reporting revenues of about $700,000 in 2016 and $740,000 in 2017, a court document states.
