3 charged with selling fentanyl-laced pills in Butte County

Three men were charged Thursday for selling fentanyl-laced drugs in Butte County, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Guillermo Jose Leon Ramirez, 41, of Oroville; Justin James Garcia, 44, of Oroville; and William Lee Vollendroff, 43, of Palermo, were indicted by a federal grand jury on three counts, the office of the U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of California said.

Court documents show that the three men sold more than 1,000 fentanyl-laced pills during two drug deals. A confidential source said the pills were made to look like oxycodone.

“Fentanyl is a very potent synthetic opiate that is 100 times more potent than morphine and can be extremely dangerous due to the small amount of the substance needed for the user to overdose,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

The Butte County Sheriff’s Office, DEA, FBI and the California Highway Patrol worked together to investigate the case.

The three suspects are charged with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and two counts of distribution of fentanyl.

If convicted, the men could face five to 40 years in prison and a $5 million fine.

The indictment comes the same day U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials announced their largest fentanyl bust ever. Agents seized nearly 254 pounds of the deadly synthetic opioid last week. That quantity of fentanyl had the potential to kill nearly 56 million people.

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