(Montreal) A Montrealer faces life in prison in the United States after pleading guilty to exporting fentanyl to the country from his cell in Drummondville as part of an international network of smugglers.
Posted at 12:58 p.m.
Updated at 2:48 p.m.
Fentanyl trafficking organized by Jason Joey Perry resulted in 15 overdoses in the United States, four of which were fatal, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Perry, 39, pleaded guilty last Friday to conspiracy to import and distribute fentanyl into the United States, which U.S. authorities say resulted in serious bodily injury and death.
U.S. authorities say Perry, along with fellow inmate Daniel Vivas Cerrone, organized the distribution of fentanyl and similar substances into the United States from Canada and China. Both were later booked into the Drummond Medium Security Institution in Drummondville.
Vivas Ceron, a Colombian national, pleaded guilty to various charges in 2019 and faces up to life in prison.
“Jason Perry was part of a fentanyl trafficking ring that contributed to the opioid epidemic plaguing our communities,” Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polit Jr. said. .
The sentence sends a “clear message” that the department is committed to curbing the flow of deadly drugs and holding traffickers accountable for their actions.
The investigation, dubbed “Operation Denial,” began in North Dakota in January 2015 following the overdose death of Bailey Henke, an 18-year-old American from Grand Forks. Several people from Canada, China and the United States have been charged or convicted since the operation began.
Perry was arrested by Canadian authorities in 2019 and extradited to North Dakota in 2021. He is scheduled to be sentenced on January 17, 2023; The mandatory minimum sentence is life imprisonment.
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