Yesterday, Craig Eastman, a 21-year-old resident of Washington D.C., received a prison sentence of 165 months for doing his part in a large-scale fentanyl trafficking operation. The operation distributed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pills across the United States, including the District. The official announcement came from U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr., and other high-ranking officials representing agencies such as the DEA and the Metropolitan Police Department, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Eastman's guilty plea was entered on July 25, 2024, for conspiring to distribute a substantial quantity of fentanyl, specifically 400 grams or greater. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly also sentenced Eastman to five years of supervised release to follow his prison term. The sweeping indictment and subsequent sentencing were to at least try and bring some measure of justice following the overdose death of Diamond Lynch, a young mother from Southeast D.C. who was caught up in the tragedy of the opioid epidemic.
The investigation that nabbed Eastman and his co-defendants was a collaborative effort by various agencies, including the DEA’s Los Angeles, San Diego, and Riverside Field Divisions, the FBI Washington Field Office, and more. It was sparked by the tragic death of Ms. Lynch but quickly uncovered a vast and lethal network of traffickers that trafficked fentanyl from Mexico, through Los Angeles, and finally into the District of Columbia.
In a detailed account, court documents revealed Eastman's deep involvement with a Los Angeles drug trafficker and described the methods employed to transport the deadly drugs, including airline flights and the U.S. Postal Service. After the pills made their treacherous journey to the District, Eastman and his associates, which included his siblings, distributed them further. Following the overdose death of Ms. Lynch, Craig Eastman informed a prospective customer that he "caught a bad batch of some 30s" and looked to sell them at a discount rather than dispose of them, as reported by the Justice Department.
The case, prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys from the Violence Reduction and Trafficking Offenses (VRTO) Section, highlights not only the severity of Eastman's crimes but also the broader issue of fentanyl abuse and the opioid crisis ravaging communities. As per the same press release, other individuals tied to this network have also faced or are facing their day in court, showing the wide reach of this conspiracy.
