Fentanyl distributor caught with nearly 600 counterfeit pills containing fentanyl sentenced to 10 years in prison (DOJ)

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Ricketta Ann Twitty, 35, of Bostic, N.C. was sentenced to 10 years in prison yesterday for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl after she was caught with nearly 600 counterfeit pills containing fentanyl, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Twitty was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release after completing her prison sentence.

"I have spent the last week going around the district educating people that a single counterfeit pill can contain a lethal dose of fentanyl. Such education is important, but we also are aggressively prosecuting people like Ms. Twitty who peddle such pills in the community," said U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson. "Ms. Twitty unnecessarily put a lot of lives at risk, at times distributing 2,000 pills per day."

According to court documents and the sentencing hearing, officers with the Forest City Police Department responded to a call for service at a Walmart involving Twitty. Officers located Twitty, near a vehicle where she was arrested. The officers then searched Twitty's vehicle and seized $7,297 in cash and more than 590 counterfeit pills in a prescription bottle. The counterfeit pills were imprinted with "T/189," a marker for the prescription drug Oxycodone Hydrochloride. The seized counterfeit pills were determined to contain fentanyl. During the investigation, Twitty told the investigators that she received the counterfeit pills from suppliers based in Charlotte, and that she distributed approximately 2,000 fentanyl pills a day during a two to three-week period.

Twitty is in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation to a federal facility.

In making the announcement, U.S. Attorney Ferguson thanked the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Rutherford County Sheriff's Office, and the Forest City Police Department for their investigation of the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Hess of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Asheville prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.