A Spokane man who turned a Hillyard basement into a commercial pill-press lab has been handed a two-decade federal prison sentence after investigators found enough fentanyl powder to press more than 2 million potentially lethal pills. Prosecutors say the stash was big enough, by Drug Enforcement Administration calculations, to kill the county’s population nearly four times over. Nicholas Adams, 37, will also spend 10 years under federal supervision after he gets out.
What Investigators Found
Federal prosecutors say Adams and a co-defendant ordered a commercial pill press by mail from China and set it up in the basement of a Hillyard home, creating what they described as a makeshift pill-press operation. When agents executed search warrants in November 2023, they found an operational press, pill-press parts, cutting agents and large quantities of powdered fentanyl, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The bust left the home so contaminated that the Washington Department of Ecology was called in to help with the hazardous cleanup. DEA Seattle later shared news of the sentencing on X.
How The Lab Worked
Investigators say Adams and his co-defendant mixed powdered fentanyl with cutting agents in order to press counterfeit pills for bulk distribution. Drug Enforcement Administration calculations put the seized fentanyl powder at the equivalent of more than 2 million potentially lethal pills, per DEA Seattle. The agency also noted that the press and its parts were all shipped through the mail and that running the basement lab caused dangerous contamination throughout the residence.
Two Defendants, Two Decades
Adams is the second man tied to the operation to receive a 20-year sentence. In September 2025, co-defendant Timothy Gary Maddox was also given a 20-year federal prison term after prosecutors said he helped run the same pill-press setup with Adams, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Court records cited by prosecutors show Maddox has a criminal record stretching back decades and told arresting officers he had “been dealing drugs for years” in the Spokane area.
Local Reaction And Agencies Involved
Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels praised the multiagency effort and said taking the press and the fentanyl cache off the street likely “saved lives,” local reporting noted. The investigation pulled in the DEA, Homeland Security Investigations, the Regional Anti-Violence Enforcement & Narcotics (RAVEN) Task Force and the Spokane Police Department, according to coverage by KHQ.
Legal Notes
U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice sentenced Adams to 240 months in prison, followed by 10 years of court supervision. The case, listed as 2:23-CR-00143-TOR-2, was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Caitlin Baunsgard, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Federal officials say the stiff sentences in the case are part of a broader push to dismantle pill-press operations that pump counterfeit fentanyl into Northwest communities.
