Fentanyl Dealer Who Kept Selling After Fatal OD In Virginia Gets Prison Time: Feds

The man who sold the fentanyl pills through Instagram that led to a fatal overdose in Virginia - and then continued selling - has been sentenced to a decade in prison, federal authorities announced.

Shan Mehmood , 21, was sentenced on Thursday to 10 years in prison for trafficking fentanyl and carrying a firearm during a drug-trafficking crime, officials said.

According to court documents, between May 2020 and April 2023, Mehmood was known to regularly acquire and sell fentanyl, and in March 2023, a purchaser reached out to him on social media about buying four pills.

Mehmood met the purchaser at a shopping center in Falls Church and sold him the drugs at 1:15 p.m. on March 7, 2023. At 6:45 p.m. that same day, first responders were called to a suspected overdose in Arlington, where they found the buyer unconscious and in cardiac arrest.

Next to him, prosecutors said, was a piece of foil wrapped around a partially burnt fentanyl pill and another fentanyl pill was in his pocket.

The OD victim was rushed to an area hospital and died the following day. An autopsy determined the cause of death to be acute fentanyl intoxication.

Investigators say that Mehmood learned of the victim's death shortly after it happened, but continued to distribute fentanyl pills without hesitation.

In April 2023, members of the Arlington County Police Department executed a search warrant at Mehmood's home, which led to the recovery of:

• A plastic bag containing 357 blue M30 counterfeit pills containing fentanyl with a net weight of 38.46 grams;
• Two one-gallon bags containing four ounces of marijuana;
• 9mm semi-automatic handgun;
• 9mm ammunition;
• Firearm accessories;
• Digital scales;
• $3,846 in cash.

Mehmood pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl, distribution of fentanyl, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, and using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime.

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