Florida man Patrick Ward, 39, has been sentenced to over six years in federal prison for trafficking fentanyl, as announced by officials. According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida, Ward received a sentence of 75 months to be followed by three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to distributing the potent synthetic opioid on multiple occasions.

Ward's illegal activities spanned dates including July 6, July 13, and August 18 of 2022, when he sold a cumulative total of 47 grams of fentanyl in Port St. Lucie, Fla., as per courtroom records. As reported by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Port St. Lucie Police Department (PSLPD) was involved in the arrest of Ward in August of 2022 following several months of investigation into his activities. Police revealed that during the investigation he frequently traveled between Miami and Port St. Lucie to sell the drugs, which were often mixed with cocaine.

The DEA Miami Field Division and PSLPD conducted the investigation leading to Ward's apprehension and subsequent sentencing. U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon imposed the sentence on September 3, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael D. Porter leading the prosecution in this case. This legal action signifies a continuing effort by law enforcement to tackle the fentanyl crisis, which has claimed numerous lives across the nation.

At the time of Ward's arrest, law enforcement officers confiscated significant quantities of cocaine and fentanyl, an arrest that provided tangible evidence of the narcotics network within which Ward operated. The CBS12 report notes that despite the severe risk associated with fentanyl, which is estimated to be 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, traffickers like Ward continue to distribute these substances, often leading to fatal overdoses.