Pass Christian Man Pleads Guilty to Trafficking Fentanyl

Gulfport, Miss – Carter Tranh Tran, 43, of Pass Christian, entered a guilty plea yesterday before U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst and Special Agent in Charge Brad Byerley with the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”).

In 2018, DEA agents were investigating Tran when Tran sold what was purported to be 100 pills of Percocet and 128 pills of Adderall in the parking lot of a Biloxi nightclub.  When tested by the DEA lab, the purported Percocet turned out to be methamphetamine and the purported Adderall was actually 56.76 grams of fentanyl.  The DEA estimates that fentanyl is lethal in the two milligrams range; therefore, this was enough fentanyl to kill approximately 28,000 people.  When DEA arrested Tran, they recovered 14 pounds of marijuana from his home and an additional 13 pounds of marijuana from his business in Gulfport.

Tran will be sentenced by Judge Ozerden on September 28, 2020 at 10:00 a.m., and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine. 

The Gulfport Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the case.  Assistant United States Attorney Annette Williams is prosecuting the case.