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Silver Springs resident Tyronn Waters was sentenced to 70 months in prison after pleading guilty in July to distributing fentanyl and wire fraud charges as part of an elaborate scheme.
In August 2021, an investigation was launched into a drug trafficking ring running a fentanyl pill pressing operation in both DC and Maryland.
According to prosecutors, the drugs included counterfeit Oxycodone pills containing fentanyl, produced using the ring’s three pill presses that pressed fentanyl mixes into what appeared to be genuine prescription pills.
Waters admitted to purchasing the counterfeit pills and passing them off as legitimate for profit. He also used a weapon during his dealings.
Officials say that in March 2022, federal authorities executed a search inside an apartment in the 1300 block of 4th Street SE, which was a stash house used by the ringleaders as its headquarters for the pill pressing operations.
During that search, investigators seized more than 516 pills and more than 76 grams of a mixture and substance containing fentanyl.
Waters was also sentenced for wire fraud after he and his co-conspirators stole personal information from several victims then applied for unemployment insurance benefits in their names in states across the country.
At times they wore masks and wigs to make cash withdrawals from the accounts of victims at ATMs throughout the region, prosecutors said.
In total, he admitted to being complicit in stealing more than $250,000.
Upon his release from prison, Waters was also ordered by a judge to serve three years of supervised release and he must forfeit $100,000 as part of his sentence.
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