A Bloomingburg man was sentenced Thursday morning to significant prison time after pleading guilty to trafficking fentanyl and drug possession charges.
Nathaniel Ryan, 35, 35 Lincoln St., pled guilty in Fayette County Common Pleas Court to first-degree felony possession of fentanyl, third-degree felony possession of cocaine, and two counts of fourth-degree felony trafficking in fentanyl, according to Fayette County Prosecutor Jess Weade.
Judge Steven Beathard sentenced Ryan to eight to 12 years in prison plus approximately 17 months of post-release control enhancement.
According to the grand jury indictment, Ryan possessed between 20-50 grams of fentanyl on Jan. 13. The fentanyl trafficking occurred in September of 2020, according to the indictment.
Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that is similar to morphine but is 50 to 100 times more potent. It is a prescription drug that is also made and used illegally. Fentanyl is considered extremely addictive because of its potency.
Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are the most common drugs involved in overdose deaths. Illegal fentanyl is being mixed with other drugs, such as cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and MDMA. This is especially dangerous because people are often unaware that fentanyl has been added.
Ryan was one of 45 individuals arrested in July as part of a long-standing undercover operation to thwart the sale of opioids and narcotics in four Ohio counties.
“Operation Red, White and Bust” was conducted by the sheriff’s offices of Fayette, Ross, Highland and Hocking counties, along with the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Chillicothe Police Department. The U.S. Marshals Service and the Washington Court House Police Department assisted the task force in making the arrests.
The operation focused on alleged traffickers in fentanyl, tramadol, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.
“This operation is not the end but merely a continuation of our collective efforts to keep drugs out of our neighborhoods,” said Fayette County Sheriff Vernon Stanforth. “This success is due to the cooperative efforts with many agencies, including the 23 Pipeline Task Force, the Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Marshal’s Service.”
Reach Record-Herald Editor Ryan Carter at 740-313-0352.
