Ken Hechtman (born December 16, 1967) is a freelance journalist and convicted drug dealer from Canada who achieved brief international prominence in late 2001 when Afghanistan's Taliban government charged him with being a United States spy while he researched a story for the Montreal Mirror. Afghanistan tried, acquitted, and released him after a short time in jail.[1]
Hechtman was born in Montreal, Canada and attended Columbia University from 1987 to 1988.[2] He was suspended from Columbia from a year for stealing depleted Uranium-238 and other dangerous chemicals, and was required to reapply for admission. Instead, he planned to attend Vanier College.[3]
On November 25, 2001, he was captured by the Taliban hours after crossing into Afghanistan, while working as a reporter for the Montreal Mirror.[4] He was released approximately one week later.
In 2001, he identified as Jewish.[5]
He married fellow Montrealer and journalist Wendy Hechtman on September 12, 2015. They moved to Nebraska in February 2016.[6]
In 2017, Hechtman and his wife Wendy were charged with conspiracy to manufacture 10 grams or more of fentanyl analogue, conspiracy to distribute a fentanyl analogue, and possession with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of a fentanyl analogue between on or about March 2017 and October 30, 2017.[7] According to police investigators, the pair invented a pastel-colored version of carfentanil, an opioid that can be up to 10,000 times more powerful than morphine and that can kill a human with only a few grains touching human skin. Hechtman allegedly "developed a sophisticated marketing system with a sales team of about 40 people."[8]
They pleaded guilty, and were both sentenced to 15 years in federal prison in 2018.[9] Hechtman was released on probation in November 2023.[10]