Beaverton man who sold 70,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills filled with fentanyl sent to prison

A Beaverton man who used a darknet marketplace to buy 86,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills filled with fentanyl and then distributed most of them in Oregon was sentenced Tuesday to eight years and one month in federal prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Radcliffe argued for a stiffer sentence of more than 10 years in prison for Jared Dale Gillespie, citing the extremely serious risk from drug traffickers “who pass off fentanyl as something else’’ and the large quantity he bought and distributed.

Illegally made fentanyl, a powerful opioid described as 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, cause more fentanyl-related overdoses and deaths than other sources of fentanyl, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It’s hard to know how many people were affected by Gillespie’s sales but no deaths were linked to him, prosecutors said.

Defense lawyer Thomas Price said Gillespie has changed significantly since he was released from custody in September 2017 before pleading guilty to the crime in January 2018. He now owns his own car dealership and volunteered time at Portland’s Blanchet House, which provides transitional shelter for men struggling with addictions, mental illnesses or other issues. Price urged a sentence of six years and six months.

Gillespie, 30, told the judge he was 18 when he first went to prison, sentenced in 2008 to seven and a half years for robbery and unlawful use of weapon. He was out of custody for about 19 months when he got involved in fentanyl trafficking, he said.

Asked what drew him into it, Gillespie replied, “Just greed, your honor.’’

He said he lost his sister to a heroin overdose in 2014.

“I really regret even being involved in the lifestyle,’’ Gillespie said.

According to prosecutors, Gillespie bought counterfeit oxycodone pills from a vendor in Salt Lake City using AlphaBay, a darknet site. He had those packages sent to a private post office box in Portland. He paid for the fake pills by sending $294,000 in Bitcoin to the Salt Lake City vendor, according to the federal investigation.

When the Salt Lake City vendor was arrested, investigators seized 16,000 of the pills packaged for shipment to Portland. They believe Gillespie distributed the rest – 70,000 pills – to buyers in Oregon.

Just before Gillespie’s arrest, he also received a small shipment of fentanyl from Hong Kong, according to prosecutors.

Evidence seized from Gillespie’s computer showed he was planning to begin manufacturing his own counterfeit oxycodone, using a $1,900 pill press that he ordered with a die to stamp “30’’ and “M’’ on pills to pass them off as 30 mg oxycodone.

Before his arrest, he was searching on the internet “how much fentanyl to press into Oxy.’’ according to investigators. He was also searching for ways to make oxycodone pills using fentanyl.

U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown said she believed Gillespie had demonstrated a commitment to change while he’s been out on pretrial release. That’s the reason, she said, she didn’t accept the prosecutor’s recommendation, but instead chose a sentence at the low end of the sentencing guideline.

But she didn’t dip lower than the guidelines as Gillespie’s lawyer urged, largely because of the “vast’’ amount of fentanyl Gillespie distributed, she said.

Gillespie was ordered to turn himself into the U.S. Marshals Service by noon next Tuesday.

— Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

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