PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A Pennsylvania man who sold a fentanyl analogue on a former dark net marketplace was found guilty by a federal jury Tuesday after the drug he distributed led to the overdoses of three Portland residents.
According to court documents, 37-year-old Henry Konah Koffie sold the drugs on a dark net website known as AlphaBay, where he posed under the usernames DNMKingpin and Narcoboss.
The furanyl fentanyl Koffie sold led to three overdoses between 2016 and 2017 – two of which resulted in death.
On May 2, 2016, a 19-year-old student at Portland State University overdosed 30 minutes after consuming the fentanyl she received from a man who purchased the substance from DNMKingpin on AlphaBay. Paramedics saved her life using Naloxone.
A year later, on May 6, 2017, a 27-year-old died from a fentanyl overdose in Southeast Portland. According to the Portland Police Bureau, a roommate said they had ordered a gram of “China White” from Narcoboss for $40 on AlphaBay.
Soon after, on May 29, 2017, another 27-year-old died of an overdose in Northeast Portland, where PPB found a notebook connecting the fentanyl with a purchase through a Bitcoin wallet.
Authorities say Koffie also sold five orders of powdered fentanyl to investigators in controlled buys between May and June 2017.
Koffie was charged by the District of Oregon on July 12, 2017, and has since been held in Multnomah County Detention Center. He now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, a $10 million fine and three years’ supervised release.
Steven T. Mygrant, the chief of the Narcotics and Criminal Enterprises Unit for the District of Oregon, said Koffie exploited profits and risked the lives of Americans addicted to opioids.
“The mass availability of fentanyl in our country is staggering and represents a profound public safety and health threat,” Mygrant said. “We in law enforcement will continue doing our part to hold fentanyl dealers like Henry Koffie accountable, but we implore all community members to be vigilant in protecting themselves and their loved ones. If you possess pills not dispensed by a licensed pharmacist, assume they are fake and contain a deadly dose of fentanyl.”