Winchester Man Sentenced to 84 Months for Selling Fatal Dose of Fentanyl

HARRISONBURG, Va. –  A Winchester, Virginia man, who facilitated the sale of a fatal dose of fentanyl in October 2020, was sentenced yesterday to 84 months in federal prison.

Kenneth James Hughes, Jr., 27, pled guilty in April to two counts of distribution of fentanyl.

According to court documents, following a fentanyl overdose resulting in the death of a user on October 23 2020, an investigation by law enforcement revealed Hughes to be the deceased user’s source of supply. 

In October 2020, one of Hughes’ drug customers contacted him in regard to buying fentanyl in the form of “pressed pills,” namely, fentanyl pills made to appear like Oxycodone 30mg pills. Hughes sold two pressed pills to the customer who subsequently consumed the drugs and was found unresponsive the following morning at his home in Winchester. It was determined his death was the result of acute fentanyl intoxication.

The following month in Berryville, Virginia, Hughes sold twenty-two capsules containing fentanyl for $300 to a confidential informant working on behalf of law enforcement.

United States Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh and Jared Forget, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA’s Washington Division, announced the sentence today.

The Virginia State Police, the Northwest Virginia Regional Drug and Gang Task Force (composed of the Virginia State Police, the Winchester Police Department, the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office, and the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office) and the Drug Enforcement Administration -  Washington Division, investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Lee prosecuted the case.