A man from Largo, Maryland, pleaded guilty to charges stemming with his involvement in a fentanyl distribution ring.
Collin Edwards, 29, also known as “Chills,” pleaded guilty to a felony charge of “conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 400 or more grams of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of fentanyl and a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
The guilty plea was entered during a federal court appearance on Thursday, where Edwards “admitted that he was accountable for producing at least 1.2 kilograms of a mixture containing a detectable amount of fentanyl,” prosecutors said.
Edwards pleaded guilty on an additional charge of “identity theft in a scheme involving false unemployment insurance claims that illegally netted more than $250,000,” according to a news release. He’s agreed to forfeit $100,000.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said the plea is a result of an August 2021 investigation by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, when officials began looking into a drug trafficking group operating a fentanyl pill pressing operation in the D.C. area.
“Law enforcement learned that the group was in possession of at least three pill presses and used them to press fentanyl into counterfeit prescription pills. The group then distributed the pills throughout Washington, D.C., and Maryland. Edwards and six others were identified as participants in the drug trafficking operation,” according to a news release.
Edwards faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 12 years in prison when he’s sentenced on March 5, 2024.
