Federal prison sentences handed down in 4 separate cases involving meth, fentanyl, other drugs
Federal sentences were handed down this week in four separate cases in Michigan that involved large quantities of fentanyl, methamphetamine and other controlled substances, according to the U.S. District Attorney's office in Western Michigan.
According to plea agreements and court records, each defendant possessed large quantities of drugs — primarily fentanyl and methamphetamine — that they intended to sell.
Andrew B. Birge, the acting U.S. District Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, related the following details in a press release:
- Rene Arnold Ruiz, 52, of Kent County, was sentenced Monday to 16 years in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine. Ruiz had pleaded guilty to the charge on Jan. 13. This case involved counterfeit pills found in a storage unit in Kent County.
- Thomas Charles Davis, 50, of Kalamazoo County, was sentenced Tuesday to 17 ½ years in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine. Davis had pleaded guilty to the charge on Dec. 18. This case involved drugs found in a Kalamazoo County apartment.
- Lonnie Laronn Morrow, 33, of Kalamazoo County, was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years and 8 months, in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and cocaine. Morrow had pleaded guilty to the charge on Dec. 2. This case resulted from a traffic stop in Kalamazoo County and subsequent search at Morrow's apartment.
- Dyland Edward Hughes, 32, of Kalamazoo County, was sentenced Wednesday to 70 months in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and cocaine. Hughes had pleaded guilty to the charge on Dec. 19. This case invovled drugs found in a Kalamazoo County home.
"These cases — all resolved this week — individually and collectively demonstrate the serious, on-going threat posed by the trafficking of illegal drugs, especially fentanyl and methamphetamine, here in west Michigan and across the United States," Birge said in the statement.
"Fentanyl is driving overdose deaths in our community, and we are committed to stopping it at the source," Kent County Sheriff Michelle Lajoye-Young said in the announcement.
