A Virginia man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to distributing fentanyl-laced pills that he disguised as common prescription medication.
Taurean Venable pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute over 7 kilograms of fentanyl throughout Washington, D.C., and Arlington, Virginia. Venable, along with two other co-conspirators, would obtain several kilograms of the drug from various sources and use a pill press to manufacture counterfeit medication, selling them to redistributors or directly to customers, according to court documents.
“Fentanyl imposes a significant harm on society,” prosecutors wrote in a memo. “It is an addictive and dangerous drug that destroys the lives of users, and has far reaching consequences on the users’ families, friends, and communities. The resultant cost on society is tremendous. … The defendant engaged in the conspiracy with little, if any, regard for the harms to society and the users, and did so for his own financial gain.”
Police discovered the drugs in the Arlington home of one of his co-conspirators during a court-authorized search in June 2020 in connection to a separate investigation. While inside the residence, officers reported seeing suspicious white powder blanketing items and more than a thousand grams of fentanyl in a blender on the kitchen counter.
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Law enforcement seized the fentanyl, as well as pill manufacturing materials, a loaded AK-47 firearm, and $34,828, according to court documents. Police later located another $23,193 in drug proceeds after arresting Venable in his home.
“It is difficult to quantify the impact that the amount of fentanyl (between 4 and 12 kilograms, with 7 kilograms seized in a single day) involved in this offense had on communities in this District and elsewhere,” prosecutors wrote in the sentencing memo.
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Venable is the third to be sentenced in the case, with Cornelius Frazier receiving a sentence of 12 ½ years in jail imprisonment and Kyle Bouldin receiving a sentence of six years for their respective roles.
