Pubdate: Sat, 30 May 2015 Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA) Copyright: 2015 Associated Press Contact: http://www.utsandiego.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386 Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it's circulation area. FOUNDER OF DRUG SALES SITE GETS LIFE IN PRISON NEW YORK (AP) - A San Francisco man who created the online drug-selling site Silk Road was sentenced Friday to life in prison by a judge who cited six deaths that resulted from drugs bought on his website and five people he tried to have killed. U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest told 31-year-old Ross Ulbricht that he was a criminal even though he doesn't fit the typical profile - - he has two college degrees - and she brushed aside his attempt to characterize the business as a big mistake. "It was a carefully planned life's work. It was your opus," she said. "You are no better a person than any other drug dealer." Forrest said the sentence was necessary to show others who might follow his path that there are "very serious consequences." She also ordered him to forfeit $183 million, the total of drug and fake ID sales documented in Silk Road records. Prosecutors had not asked for a life sentence, saying only they wanted a prison term longer than the 20-year minimum. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom