An Illinois man received a prison sentence exceeding two decades for dealing lethal counterfeit pills, a US district court ruled yesterday. Deontae’ Tre’Von Overall, found responsible for selling fake Percocet pills laced with fentanyl that resulted in a St. Louis County man's death in 2022, was sentenced to 23 years and eight months in prison, as reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Missouri. Judge Matthew T. Schelp, who handed down the sentence, emphasized his intention to send a clear warning to drug traffickers and also ordered Overall to pay $21,736 in restitution to the deceased's family.
After the victim's fatal overdose on December 3, 2022, the St. Louis County Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) collaborated to track down the source of the drugs. Decoys reaching for the seller, they set up a sting operation contacting Overall’s phone and succeeded in purchasing more counterfeit Percocet. He later admitted a separate sale of drugs after being arrested, pleading guilty before his trial commenced last September to charges of distributing controlled substances.
During Overall's trial, revelations surfaced about a music video where he blatantly displayed his ongoing involvement in the drug trade, even while under house arrest. As the U.S. Attorney's Office conveyed, Judge Schelp took particular issue with Overall's braggadocio of his illicit activities, presenting the concerns of glamorization as a dangerous precedent.
The trail of banners snapped in the wind, flapping behind the DEA and local law enforcement, as they declared a commitment to continue fighting the opioid epidemic—which has seen a slight downturn in drug-induced deaths by 14.5% and a decrease in pills containing lethal doses of fentanyl, according to DEA testing. Assistant Special Agent in Charge Colin Dickey hailed these statistics as a sign of progress, "Drug-induced deaths are down 14.5% nationwide as of June 2024, and pills tested by DEA labs with a lethal dose of fentanyl have decreased to five out of 10," Dickey told the U.S. Attorney's Office.
This case, spearheaded by the DEA and the St. Louis County Police Department, underscores the ongoing effort to hold dealers accountable and stem the tide of the opioid crisis, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lisa Epplin and Jerome McDonald leading the prosecution. The tragic circumstances propel renewed efforts to inform the public of the dangers of consuming unregulated and unsupervised drugs, reinforcing the DEA's vital role in curbing a national crisis.
