OKLAHOMA CITY – A Grady County man was sentenced recently to 10 years in federal prison for distributing fentanyl that caused a near-fatal overdose.
According to court records, on or about Dec. 30, 2021, Marcus Lamar Richardson, 23, of Chickasha, distributed a pill containing fentanyl to codefendant Brianna Rechell Hugar, 24, to deliver to another person. That individual overdosed and nearly died as a result of the fentanyl. The victim survived “only because of life saving measures by Chickasha police,” U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester said.
Richardson pleaded guilty Dec. 1, 2022, and was sentenced late last month in federal court here by U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton.
In announcing the sentence, Heaton commented on the seriousness of the offense as well as the extent of the threat to the public posed by fentanyl, and thus, by extension, Richardson’s conduct.
The judge also noted that it took only half a pill for the victim to overdose, while also observing that Richardson was distributing significant quantities of the dangerous drug.
Hugar pleaded guilty to distribution of fentanyl and was sentenced Aug. 23 to serve two years in federal prison.
“It takes only one deadly fentanyl-laced pill to cause a fatal overdose,” Troester said. “Far too many have died due to the flood of fentanyl into the United States and Oklahoma.”