Man caught speeding by Wichita officer had 3K fentanyl pills in car. He’s sentenced
An Alabama man caught speeding in the Wichita area with around 3,000 fentanyl-laced pills and nine guns in his car has been sentenced to six years in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas said Tuesday.
Russell Scott IV, 38, of Gulf Shores, Alabama, was also fined $30,000 when he was sentenced last week, court records show. He pleaded guilty in February to one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.
Prosecutors say a Wichita police detective found the drugs after pulling Scott over for speeding on Interstate 35 on Sept. 19, 2023.
“During a probable cause search, law enforcement found approximately 3,000 fentanyl-laced pills and nine firearms in Scott’s vehicle,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
The drugs were stashed spots throughout the vehicle, including in Scott’s luggage; the guns “facilitated his possession of the controlled substances,” his plea agreement says.
The seized pills were “found to be, in part, 291.46 grams of a mixture or substance containing fentanyl and 20.99 grams of a mixture or substance containing fluorofentanyl” when they were tested by the Sedgwick County Regional Forensic Science Center, the plea agreement says.
Scott eventually admitted “that it was his intention to distribute the fentanyl to another person,” according to his plea agreement.
“The defendant admitted his intention before his arrest was to distribute thousands of fentanyl pills. I would like to thank the Wichita Police Department for helping to keep so much of this potentially deadly substance off our streets,” U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser said in the news release.
Scott’s lawyer had asked the court to sentence him to five years of probation instead of sending him to prison, saying in a written motion that Scott’s own drug addiction contributed to his actions.
Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that is often mixed with other illicit drugs to increase its potency, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. A tiny, two-milligram dose can be deadly depending on a person’s body size, tolerance and history of usage.
