THREE PEOPLE PLEAD GUILTY TO FENTANYL DISTRIBUTION FOLLOWING OVERDOSES IN WISE COUNTY

Three people from Wise County plead guilty to fentanyl distribution. The U.S. Attorney's Office reports that Paul Perkins, Austin Lane, and Cheyenne Carico have pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl. Perkins is accused of purchasing thousands of pressed pills containing fentanyl from California and had them sent to his home in Big Stone Gap between February 1 to 11 of this year. The postal service intercepted a package for Perkins on February 10 from Costa Mesa, California that contained approximately 1,000 pills containing fentanyl. He had previously sold three pressed pills, for $30 per pill, to Carico and Lane on November 24, 2021. Two of the pills were purchased for a 17-year-old girl, who later was hospitalized due to a drug overdose and spent six days on a ventilator. Another 18-year-old male, who purchased pressed pills from them, was also hospitalized due to an overdose. 

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