A West Virginia man has been sentenced to 11 years in a federal prison for selling a fatal dose of fentanyl pills.
Gregory Allen Sirk, 48, of Martinsburg, pled guilty to deliberately selling acetyl fentanyl and fentanyl-laced pills in May 2022.
“Throughout the Western District of Virginia, we have seen record numbers of drug poisoning deaths — many as a result of adulterated pills,” said U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh in a press release.
“We will continue to work with our partners both in the law enforcement community and the recovery community to prosecute the most serious offenders and provide treatment for those fighting substance abuse disorder.”
Sirk was a well-known drug dealer who consistently acquired heroin and painkillers from Baltimore to resell in Winchester, Virginia, court documents said.
He sold two foil packets of heroin to a family member and her boyfriend, according to the release. They took the drugs, watched a movie and went to sleep.
The next morning, the family member’s boyfriend wasn’t breathing, and medical services and law enforcement were called to the home. He was pronounced dead and his cause of death was confirmed as an “accidental acute combined fentanyl and acetyl fentanyl poisoning.”
