Three individuals have been arrested for conspiring to distribute over 13 pounds of fentanyl-mixed pills in Nashville, according to the Middle District of Tennessee U.S. Attorney’s Office.
A joint investigation conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department resulted in the arrest of Karl Chandler, Jr., 36, Jacquez McCoy, 26, and Branelle Brooks, 23, after agents intercepted a suspicious package that had been shipped to Nashville from Phoenix, Arizona containing a “substantial quantity of pills containing fentanyl.”
The pills inside the package, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, “bore the same color, shape, and imprints as legitimate oxycodone 30 milligram pills” and were concealed in two vacuum-sealed bags hidden inside of air mattresses.
The package contained approximately 6.27 kilograms, or 13.8 pounds, of suspected fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills.
After seizing the narcotics and re-assembling the package without the narcotics, agents followed the individuals who retrieved it upon delivery, resulting in the arrests of Chandler, McCoy, and Brooks. A firearm was also recovered as part of the investigation.
Chandler, McCoy, and Brooks are all charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a mixture or substance containing fentanyl. Chandler is also charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 100 times more potent than morphine. Just two milligrams of the substance, approximately the size of a mosquito, is capable of killing a grown adult, according to the DEA.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that 57,834 fentanyl-related deaths occurred in fiscal year 2020 and 71,238 fentanyl related deaths occurred in fiscal year 2021.
Most fentanyl is mass-produced in Mexico using chemicals from China before being pressed into pills or mixed with other counterfeit drugs, according to a report prepared by the DEA Intelligence Program.
Davidson County has one of the worst overdose death rates in the country, according to a U.S. drug overdose death tracker published by the San Francisco Chronicle. From May 2022 to April 2023, a total of 554 individuals died from drug overdoses in Davidson County. Approximately 80 percent of those cases involved fentanyl.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
