DALLAS — A Dallas fentanyl dealer who admitted to selling more than 142,000 counterfeit pills was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on Monday.
Terrill Antwan Ray, 48, pleaded guilty in April 2023 to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance and was sentenced. The judge who presided over Ray's sentencing called the amount of drugs in the case “staggering.”
According to court documents, Ray admitted that during a 2019 raid on his apartment, law enforcement seized more than 28,000 counterfeit fentanyl pills weighing more than 12.5 kilograms.
"During subsequent raids on the homes of two coconspirators, law enforcement seized an additional 114,000 counterfeit fentanyl pills, including 105,000 belonging to Mr. Ray, that weighed a combined 42 kilograms," authorities stated in a news release.
Authorities said they also seized an electromagnetic foil capping machine, hundreds of empty plastic pill bottles, more than $11,000 in cash and two firearms.
Court documents say Ray admitted to distributing more than 142,000 counterfeit fentanyl pills marked to resemble hydrocodone and oxycodone. The documents also detail text messages in which Ray and a down-line distributor discussed drug debts and referenced “school buses” (code for narcotics), “blues” (slang for oxycodone), and “dros” (slang for hydrocodone).
“Mr. Ray is being held accountable for the poison that found its way into our community by his hand and the tens of thousands of pills that could have found their way into our love ones’ hands," said DEA Dallas Special Agent in Charge, Eduardo A. Chávez.
The Drug Enforcement Administration's Dallas Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Dallas Police Department, the DeSoto Police Department and the Cedar Hill Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Linda Requénez and Abe McGlothin (fmr) prosecuted the case.
