RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Two Northern Virginia men charged with fentanyl trafficking offenses have been sentenced to a combined 19 years in prison.
After a joint effort by the Office of the Attorney General and the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Kibruysfa Degefa and Trevor Randolph have received their sentences.
Degefa has been sentenced to 168 months in prison after a federal jury found him guilty of conspiracy to distribute, possession, and distribution of fentanyl and Eutylone, as well as being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession of a firearm during and in furtherance of drug trafficking.
He conspired with others to distribute pressed pills that looked like prescription medications — but the pills were actually fentanyl, according to the Office of the Attorney General.
Those pills contributed to the overdose death of a 20-year-old woman in Arlington, Va. in Dec. 2020.
Trevor Randolph has been sentenced to 60 months after pleading guilty of possession with intent to distribute pressed pills containing fentanyl — and sold a quantity of pills to an undercover detective.
Randolph had over 1,000 pressed pills containing fentanyl in his vehicle destined for distribution.
Fentanyl is a powerful, synthetic, pain-relieving opioid usually used to treat cancer patients that can be 50 to 100 percent more powerful than morphine.
According to a release by the Office of the Attorney General, Fentanyl has a heroin-like effect on users, and is often mixed with cocaine and/or heroin to make a powerful drug concoction.
“In 2021, around 2,000 Virginians died from the effects of fentanyl and other drugs, with fentanyl overdoses being the most common,” the release stated. “Fatal overdoses linked to fentanyl have increased exponentially since the start of the pandemic, and according to recent data, drug fatalities outnumbered firearm and traffic deaths combined in 2020 and 2021.”