Dallas-based fentanyl dealer sentenced to 20 years in federal prison
A Dallas-based drug dealer was sentenced to 20 years in prison Monday for distributing a “staggering” amount of counterfeit fentanyl pills, federal authorities said.
Law enforcement raided Terrill Antwan Ray’s apartment in 2019, seizing 28,000 tablets weighing upward of 27.5 pounds, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Texas.
Subsequent raids on his conspirators unearthed stashes of 114,000 pills, two firearms, and $11,000 in cash. In April 2023, Ray pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance.
“Mr. Ray is being held accountable for the poison that found its way into our community by his hand and the tens of thousands of pills that could have found their way into our love ones’ hands,” DEA Dallas Special Agent in Charge, Eduardo A. Chávez, said in a statement.
Ray ultimately confessed to dealing 142,000 fentanyl pills altered to resemble hydrocodone and oxycodone, two common prescription painkillers.
The numbing effects of fentanyl can be 50 times stronger than heroin, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Doctors sometimes prescribe the synthetic opiate to patients managing the pain of surgery or late-stage cancer.
Illegally manufactured variants of the highly addictive substance have flooded the country. Fentanyl overdoses are the leading cause of death for Americans between 18 and 45. Dealers often fuse the drug with other illicit substances or disguise it altogether. The scourge has seared North Texas.
Federal authorities in the Northern District of Texas have issued hefty sentences for fentanyl-related crimes in recent weeks. A judge in early February locked away two Fort Worth gang members for a combined 20 years for trafficking fentanyl and other illegal substances. An online fentanyl dealer received a 24 year sentence the following week.
Chief U.S. District Judge David Godbey sentenced Ray.
