Portland Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Role in Overdose Death of Portland Teenager

PORTLAND, Ore.—A local man was sentenced to federal prison today for distributing fentanyl that caused the overdose death of a Portland teenager.

Tanner Welsh, 21, was sentenced to 108 months in federal prison and three years’ supervised release.

According to court documents, on November 10, 2022, officers from the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) responded to a fatal overdose of a 17-year-old teenager. Investigating officers located several small blue pills near the teenager’s body they believed were counterfeit Oxycodone pills containing fentanyl. An autopsy later confirmed the teenager died from fentanyl poisoning.

Further investigation revealed that the teenager had exchanged several text messages with Welsh shortly before overdosing in response to an online ad Welsh posted offering the sale of controlled substances. Investigators also learned that Welsh had personally traveled to the teenager’s house to deliver the fentanyl pills.

On January 24, 2023, special agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) located and arrested Welsh who admitted selling fentanyl and Xanax pills to the deceased teenager.

On February 8, 2023, a federal grand jury in Portland indicted Welsh on one count of possessing with intent to distribute fentanyl. On December 13, 2023, Welsh pleaded guilty to a one-count superseding criminal information charging him with distributing fentanyl to a person under the age of twenty-one.

This case was investigated by PPB and HSI and was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon.