Source: Office of United States Attorneys
Opioid overdose rates in Abilene fell precipitously following a large-scale takedown of fentanyl traffickers, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.
According to Abilene Police Department data collected by OD MAP, from January 1, 2024 to September 11, 2024, Abilene suffered 41 overdoses, including nine that were fatal, for an average of 4.9 overdoses per month. Victims ranged in age from 13 to 72.
On September 11, a federal grand jury indicted 12 alleged fentanyl traffickers who were arrested the next week. All were detained pending trial.
Following that takedown, Abilene saw just three overdoses, none of them fatal, through the end of the year, for an average of 0.8 overdoses per month.
In addition, according to the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office, the street price of fentanyl pills rose from roughly $8 per pill to between $20 and $30 per pill, making fentanyl less accessible to at-risk users.
“This is precisely why the U.S. Attorney’s Office does the work it does – and why I am proud to have led the Northern District of Texas for the past two years,” said U.S. Attorney Leigha Simonton. “To see our fentanyl prosecutions having tangible impacts on the lives of the people of Abilene is immensely gratifying. I want to laud the hard work of our local law enforcement partners, especially the Abilene Police Department and the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office, for helping to make this happen.”
To date, 10 of the 12 defendants indicted on Sept. 11 have entered guilty pleas and await sentencing. The other two await trial and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Agencies involved in the fight against fentanyl in the region include the Abilene Police Department, the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dallas Field Office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office – all members of North Texas HIDTA and the OCEDTF Program. The Fort Worth Branch of the United States’s Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case.
Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) identify, disrupt, and dismantle the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threat the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.