The opioid epidemic is hitting home, as a northwest side man has pled guilty in connection with the distribution of Fentanyl, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Federal prosecutors say Benjamin Uno was caught with pills, and an AK-47 rifle, in an apartment on Hamilton Wolfe on the city's northwest side.
Court documents show that Uno was making pills for street distribution using commercial equipment, and the opioids had been smuggled into the U.S. from China.
A co-defendant, who is a former Defense Department interpreter, is expected to enter a guilty plea today.
Most people who die of opioid addiction get the pills for the first time legally from a physician, but they turn to street drugs, like the ones Uno was distributing, after the doctor refuses to refill their prescription or the cost of getting the painkillers legitimately gets too expensive.
Street Fentanly laced drugs are far cheaper, and far more potent, than painkillers purchases legitimately.