LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A Las Vegas man who mailed fentanyl to Utah, nearly killing a resident there, was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison.
A federal judge sentenced Colin Andrew Shapard, 23, to 20 years in prison followed by 36 months of supervised release after he pleaded guilty to the distribution of a controlled substance that resulted in serious bodily injury in December 2023.
“There is no outcome that can fully heal the destruction caused by Shapard’s actions,” Assistant Special Agent in Charge Dustin Gillespie, of the DEA Salt Lake City District Office, said. “Nevertheless, today’s sentencing is an important step toward justice for the victim and the many family members and friends affected by Mr. Shapard’s distribution of deadly fentanyl.”
Fentanyl that Shapard shipped through U.S. mail nearly killed a Park City, Utah, man after he overdosed in 2022, officials said.
Shapard, a former UNLV student, was sending shipments of illegal narcotics such as opioids from Las Vegas to Park City, the 8 News Now Investigators reported. The Drug Enforcement Administration learned of these shipments in November 2021, and later identified Shapard as the source.
The DEA learned Shapard was selling fake oxycodone pills to a middleman in Utah, who then sold some of the pills to high school-aged students, the 8 News Now Investigators previously reported.
In 2016, Shapard supplied a dangerous synthetic opioid to two middle school students in Park City, who died as a result of ingesting the substance, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Because Shapard was a juvenile at the time, he was charged in juvenile court for the deaths of the teens.
In December 2021, investigators identified and seized two shipments of counterfeit blue M30 pills laced with fentanyl mailed from Las Vegas to Utah.
Shapard shipped 10-30 pills to an informant every two weeks, court documents said.
The DEA said each blue pill, which was stamped as fake 30-milligram oxycodone “M30,” cost between $30 and $45 each. Shapard promised “kickbacks” to the middleman for distributing the drugs on his behalf.
In 2022, a DEA undercover agent started talking with Shapard and attempting to purchase oxycodone tablets from him.
“He represented that his pills were legitimate pharmaceutical drugs, later claiming ‘[t]hey’re a bit pricy as they aren’t presses but they are from Canada so thanks to free healthcare they aren’t crazy expensive,’” investigators wrote in court documents.
Shapard also claimed to test every shipment of pills he received to confirm they did not contain fentanyl, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Cameras at a Las Vegas post office later showed Shapard mailing the undercover agent a parcel containing the pills, the 8 News Now Investigators reported. A postal inspector in Utah intercepted the package and inside, DEA agents found 15 pills that tested positive for fentanyl.
When the agent did not immediately respond to a message from Shapard about the arrival of the pills, Shapard “appeared to have become worried,” investigators said. When the agent responded and “was still alive, Shapard express his relief,” they wrote in court documents.
“Sorry about being so worried… Just wanted to…
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