RICHMAND, Virginia (WRIC) – Two men from Northern Virginia charged with fentanyl trafficking have been sentenced to 19 years in prison.
After a joint effort by the Attorney General and the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Kibruisf Degef and Trevor Randolph were sentenced.
Degefa was sentenced to 168 months in prison after federal courts found him guilty of conspiracy to distribute, store and distribute fentanyl and eutilon, and that he was a criminal who kept firearms and firearms during and during further. drug trafficking.
He conspired with others to distribute compressed pills that looked like prescription drugs, but the pills were actually fentanyl, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
These pills contributed to the death from an overdose of a 20-year-old woman in Arlington, Virginia, in December 2020.
Trevor Randolph was sentenced to 60 months after pleading guilty to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl-containing compressed tablets – and sold the number of tablets to an undercover detective.
Randolph had more than 1,000 compressed tablets containing fentanyl in his car intended for distribution.
Fentanyl is a potent, synthetic, analgesic opioid commonly used to treat cancer patients that can be 50-100 percent more potent than morphine.
According to the Attorney General’s release, fentanyl has a heroin-like effect on consumers and is often mixed with cocaine and / or heroin to make a powerful narcotic blend.
“In 2021, about 2,000 Virginians died from fentanyl and other drugs, with fentanyl overdoses being the most common,” the release said. “Fentanyl-related fatal overdoses have increased exponentially since the beginning of the pandemic, and according to the latest data, the number of drug-related deaths has exceeded the number of firearms and traffic fatalities combined in 2020 and 2021.”