Flower Mound Fentanyl Trafficker Sentenced to 8+ Years in Prison

A fentanyl trafficker responsible for distributing thousands of pills across north Texas was sentenced today to more than eight years in federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.

Stephen Paul Brinson, aka “Steve-O,” 18, was charged in March and pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a Schedule II controlled substance (fentanyl). He was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade to 100 months in prison.  

In plea papers, Mr. Brinson admitted he dealt fentanyl-laced pills out of a home in Flower Mound.

He used an Instagram account to facilitate the sale of the round blue pills, which were imprinted “M/30” to resemble legitimate 30mg oxycodone pills.

According to court documents, Mr. Brinson acted as the source of supply for fentanyl to Donovan Jude Andrews, the Carrollton dealer who allegedly capitalized on the arrest of Luis Navarrete and Magaly Cano to advertise his pill business. (Mr. Andrews is allegedly tied to at least one juvenile fentanyl overdose – that of a 14-year-old girl who paid her dealer through CashApp; Mr. Navarrete and Ms. Cano, along with their supplier, Jason Villanueva, are allegedly tied to more than ten others.)

During a search of Mr. Brinson’s residence, law enforcement recovered approximately 1,800 fentanyl pills along with cocaine, marijuana, and two firearms.

In plea papers, he admitted that at the time of the search, he was armed and en route to deliver an M/30 pill to a customer in Flower Mound.

Mr. Brinson was the second defendant charged in the wake of the Carrollton / Flower Mound juvenile overdoses to enter a guilty plea. Magaly Cano, 29, pleaded guilty earlier this month. To date, a total of nine defendants have been charged, five of whom have pleaded guilty. (All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.)

The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dallas Field Division and the Carrollton Police Department conducted the investigation with the assistance of School Resource Officers from the Carrollton – Farmer’s Branch Independent School District and the Lewisville Independent School District. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Phelesa Guy and Rick Calvert are prosecuting the case.

Note: Illicitly produced, fentanyl-laced pills often look similar to legitimate prescription pills like Oxycontin or Percocet, but can pose significantly more danger. On the street, these pills are often referred to as “M30s” (a reference to the markings on some of the pills), “blues,” “perks,” “yerks,” “china girls,” or “TNT.” DEA research shows that six out of ten pills laced with fentanyl contain a potentially lethal dose. One pill can kill. For resources, visit https://www.dea.gov/onepill.