Final dealer in deadly Virginia Beach fentanyl ring gets 11 years

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A federal judge sentenced Christopher Bardall, 34, to 11 years three months in federal prison for his role in a drug ring that sold fentanyl that causd a woman’s fatal overdose.

Bardall’s case followed previous sentences of 30 years in prison for ringleader Michelle Best, and seven years for her cousin Darin Milligan, the middleman.

Bardall had a criminal history involving drug charges and Chief Judge Mark Davis said he took that into consideration. The guidelines for Bardall called for anywhere from 10 to 12 1/2 years, and Davis split it right down the middle.

RELATED: VB woman who dealt fentanyl that led to fatal overdose gets 30 years

Bardall pleaded guilty in November to conspiracy for selling the fatal dose of fentanyl to a woman identified only as Kimberly R. She took the drug in December 2017, went into a 17-hour coma and died.

The US Attorney’s office says Bardall sold the equivalent of more than 5,000 doses of fentanyl in Virginia Beach. He was the street level dealer for the operation that was run out of Best’s Oceanfront home in Croatan. Prosecutors said Kimberly R. was one of Bardall’s six regular customers at the time of her death.

Although Bardall chose not to make a statement immediately prior to sentencing Tuesday morning, his defense attorney Elizabeth Wood said he is remorseful about the woman’s death.

“He knew that the drugs were something that was very potent and very powerful. I firmly believe that he wasn’t necessarily trying to go out and hurt people with this, I think what he was trying to do was essentially support his own habit.”

Wood detailed in court how Bardall began abusing drugs as a teenager, and began regularly using heroin six years ago at age 28.

But prosecutors said Bardall was already making about $5,000 a month as the owner of a cleaning business, and didn’t need to sell to support his habit.

Court documents show Kimberly R. bought fentanyl from Bardall regularly for six months leading up to her death. Wood said her death is unfortunate, but that this case also involved choices.

“I’m not trying to blame the victim here at all, but these were not people who were forced into that kind of lifestyle. Even Chris was not forced into that kind of lifestyle.”

The judge said it was an extremely serious case involving a drug that’s wreaking havoc on our community. Drug agents say fentanyl can be 50 times stronger than heroin on average.

During the sentencing for Best earlier this month, prosecutors said that upon learning of the woman’s death from her fentanyl, Best told Milligan, “Keep it quiet. Business as usual.”