DENVER (KDVR) — A Grand Junction man has been sentenced to federal prison for selling counterfeit prescription painkillers laced with fentanyl, causing someone’s death.
Christopher Huggett, 30, sold counterfeit pills that looked like oxycodone but contained fentanyl. He was sentenced to 14 years for the distribution of fentanyl resulting in death, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced in a news release.
“Fentanyl is deadly and it’s pervasive. Dealers distributing fentanyl have our full attention,” U.S. Attorney Cole Finegan said. “I urge Coloradans to be on guard. Fentanyl is being disguised in many different drugs — and it can kill you. Please do not take a drug unless you get it from a pharmacist.”
U.S. District Court Judge Christine M. Arguello handed down the sentence on Wednesday.
Fentanyl convictions ensnare 2 others
After Huggett’s arrest, he also solicited the murder of a witness, Zacharia Green.
Green sold some of the pills he got from Huggett to another person, who died, and whose death is the basis of Huggett’s conviction.
Green himself nearly died from consuming Huggett’s drugs. A coworker found him unconscious and called 911, and paramedics reversed the overdose with naloxone.
Less than two months after Green’s overdose and the death, Huggett and his source, Bruce Holder, traveled to Mexico to get more.
Holder was convicted of distributing fentanyl resulting in death and other crimes. He is set to be sentenced on May 4.
Green was sentenced to two years in federal prison in the death.