Cuban man living in Maricopa sentenced to 3 years in prison for selling counterfeit pills

PHOENIX – A legal permanent resident from Cuba, who was living in Maricopa, was sentenced to 3 years in prison for selling counterfeit pills that contained fentanyl, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.

A U.S. District judge sentenced Dairon Jissan Rodriguez-Escalante, 27, to 33 months in prison and three years of supervised release last week.

On two separate occasions between October and November 2021, Rodriguez-Escalante sold over 650 grams of blue M30 pills that contained fentanyl to agents working for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Drug Enforcement Administration.

Rodriguez-Escalante was initially identified through social media as a supplier of fake M30 pills for other individuals who sent narcotics through the mail.

He pleaded guilty to possession with the intent to distribute fentanyl on March 27.

The U.S. Department of Justice and Drug Enforcement Agency defines counterfeit M30s as pills made to resemble authentic 30mg oxycodone pills. Counterfeit pills in general can contain no active ingredient or have lethal amounts of fentanyl or methamphetamine inside the pill without the user knowing.

A study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that counterfeit pill availability was increasing and drug overdose deaths are historically high. Out of 54,768 over dose deaths in 2021, 2,437 had evidence of being from counterfeit pill use. Counterfeit pills containing fentanyl were documented to bring about a higher percentage of deaths according to the study.

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