In a twist seemingly straight out of a crime drama, a fentanyl dealer on the run was nabbed by law enforcement while he casually attended a Portland Trail Blazers game. The pursuit ended as an observant fan, who also worked as a Washington County sheriff’s deputy involved in the case, spotted the suspect on live TV. This sharp-eyed deputy was "pretty sure" the man on his screen was the fugitive they were after, as reported by The Seattle Times.
Billy Ray Trueblood had been under investigation for selling fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pills that led to the tragic overdose of a 30-year-old Beaverton man, Alex Reser, on March 4, 2019. Until that fateful game night, authorities had been unable to track Trueblood to either of his known addresses. The deputy immediately contacted Hillsboro Police Officer James Weed to confirm the sighting, who then quickly liaised with Portland police to decidedly make an arrest at the Moda Center, according to OregonLive.
At the time of his arrest during the game, Trueblood was found carrying a significant sum of cash and an assortment of pills within an Altoids tin, mirroring the types of pills discovered in Reser's bedroom. Reser had become addicted to opioids after using prescription painkillers for athletic injuries sustained in college and had been purchasing drugs from Trueblood since those college days. They frequently communicated through text messages to buy "blues," slang for the lethal counterfeit drugs, as detailed in an account by KOIN.
Following his capture, Trueblood was indicted on several charges relating to fentanyl distribution by a federal grand jury in Portland on Nov. 10, 2020. He later entered a guilty plea for distributing fentanyl on May 30, 2023. U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman recently sentenced the 33-year-old Trueblood to three years and six months behind bars for his role in the death of Reser, accepting a prosecutor’s recommendation. The case highlights a sobering intersection of addiction, crime, and the happenstance of justice served during a moment as mundane as a basketball game—broadcasting the capture to an audience wholly unaware of the drama unwinding behind the scenes, The Seattle Times reported.
