A fentanyl dealer from Dallas has been sentenced to two decades in federal prison.
Terrill Antwan Ray, 48, appeared before Chief U.S. District Judge David Godbey on Monday for trafficking what the latter referred to as a “staggering” quantity of drugs.
Ray was arrested in 2019 after his Dallas apartment was raided, where more than 28,000 counterfeit pharmaceutical pills containing fentanyl were seized. Additional drugs were later discovered by law enforcement in two subsequent raids at co-conspirators’ homes, yielding 114,000 more fentanyl pills, 105,000 of which belonged to Ray.
More contraband in the form of an electromagnetic foil capping machine, empty plastic pill bottles, some $11,000, and two firearms were also seized.
The investigation was part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces Strike Force Initiative, which helps team up regional law enforcement actors. The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dallas Division and FBI Dallas were aided by the Dallas Police Department, DeSoto Police Department, and Cedar Hill Police Department.
In April 2023, Ray pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance and told prosecutors that he had sold more than 142,000 fentanyl pills fabricated to resemble hydrocodone and oxycodone.
Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that has been smuggled into the country through the southern border at alarming rates. FBI Director Christopher Wray recently testified during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing that his agents alone had seized roughly 270 million fatal doses of fentanyl in the past two years, as reported by The Dallas Express.
The trafficking of drugs within the U.S. by organized criminals continues to drive up crime. In Texas, lawmakers have tried to deter fentanyl dealers by enhancing the criminal penalty for providing the fatal dose in an overdose death to murder, as covered by The Dallas Express.
Several murder convictions related to fentanyl have already been pursued in North Texas thanks to the law coming into effect last fall.
In Dallas, drug offenses have been on the rise this year, with a total of 2,260 logged as of March 18 in the City’s crime analytics dashboard. This is a 3.7% uptick from the year prior over the same period.
Sector 130, which comprises Downtown Dallas, has seen the most drug offenses reported, with 187 logged, a 9.4% year-over-year rise.
DPD has been grappling with a significant staffing shortage, which has dampened its impact on deterring crime and has resulted in delayed response times. Around 3,000 officers are sworn in, whereas a City report recommended a force closer to 4,000 to ensure public safety.
City officials voted to budget DPD just $654 million this fiscal year, far less than the spending on policing seen in other high-crime jurisdictions, including New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
