Counterfeit fentanyl dealer jailed for 30 years

An individual who manufactured and sold counterfeit fentanyl has been sentenced to 30 years in prison by a US court.

On Thursday, October 31, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) said that in addition to jail time, 33-year-old Dion Fisher been ordered to forfeit several high-end vehicles and pay nearly $800,000.

Fisher and his co-defendant, Christopher McKinney, sold “hundreds and thousands of counterfeit oxycodone 30mg pills that were made with fentanyl which Fisher had ordered from China,” the DoJ said.

Fisher also ordered pill presses from China, which another co-defendant, Samuel Huffman, used to press fentanyl pills out of his automotive business in Florida.

Huffman pleaded guilty to the fentanyl conspiracy on October 9, 2018, testified against Fisher at trial, and was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison on June 24.

Authorities said they seized fentanyl from a number of locations in January and February 2018, including Fisher and McKinney’s residence.

On July 2, 2018, Christopher McKinney pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute and manufacture fentanyl and forfeited $1.4 million in cash, two residences, and several high-end vehicles.

McKinney testified against Fisher at trial and was sentenced to two years in federal prison on June 28.

The pills were mainly sold through mail to an individual in Boston, who then distributed the pills.

The case was investigated by the Opioid Fraud and Abuse Detection Unit, a DoJ programme aimed to help “combat the devastating opioid crisis that is ravaging families and communities across America”.

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