Matthew Liebmann, 31, and his wife, Danielle Liebmann, 26, were arrested accused in court documents of receiving a package containing 215 tablets

Matthew Liebmann, 31, and his wife, Danielle Liebmann, 26, were arrested on the charges last week under complaints signed by John Burke and Carmen Frangella, who are with the Albany County sheriff's Drug Interdiction Unit. They are free on bail; the case is pending in Cohoes City Court.The couple are accused in court documents of receiving a package containing 215 tablets of morphine, a powerful painkiller, and 100 tablets of Ritalin, a commonly abused mild stimulant used to treat people with attention disorders. Both drugs are federally controlled substances and required a prescription.The case highlights the ease with which controlled substances can be ordered through the Internet, including from overseas, and delivered by U.S. mail couriers.Two years ago, the state Health Department's Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement smashed a domestic Internet prescription-drug network they said was delivering millions of dollars worth of controlled substances, primarily steroids, into New York and other states from Florida.The case began with the arrest of a Utica-area physician, David W. Stephenson, who was issuing blind prescriptions from his home-based Internet site for drugs such as methadone and Ritalin. Stephenson pleaded guilty and is serving six years in state prison.
For law enforcement agencies, the Internet has become a sprawling pipeline for drugs that are secreted among the millions of parcels handled daily by domestic mail couriers."There are over 150 illegal sites on the Internet offering pharmaceutical-controlled substances for sale," said Michael G. Moffett, who heads the Health Department unit that spearheaded the investigation of the Florida-based steroids network.The Cohoes case began when federal agents in Albany were contacted by DEA agents in Brazil. The DEA in South America were working with the Brazilian Federal Police, who were eavesdropping on the e-mails of a person suspected of supplying U.S. customers and others with controlled substances, records show.Brazilian authorities intercepted an e-mail placing an order for drugs that were to be delivered to a Cohoes apartment allegedly occupied by the Liebmanns. The package was intercepted by U.S. Postal inspectors and the Liebmanns were arrested Aug. 11 at their apartment.