Gregg County man sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for fentanyl overdose death

TYLER, Texas - A Longview man who sold fake prescription pills containing fentanyl has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison, announced Eastern District of Texas U.S. Attorney Damien M. Diggs.

Don Paul Rickman, 39, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl resulting in death and was sentenced to 240 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker on September 12, 2024.

According to information presented in court, Rickman admitted to selling the victim what were purported to be prescription pills, after which the victim' mother found him dead in his bedroom. The pills sold by Rickman were later determined to be laced with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid commonly used as an analgesic or anesthetic that is 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin. An autopsy of the victim confirmed the cause of death to be a fentanyl overdose.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has issued a public safety alert warning Americans of the alarming increase in the lethality and availability of fake prescription pills containing fentanyl and methamphetamine. The public safety alert coincides with the launch of DEA's One Pill Can Kill public awareness campaign to educate the public of the dangers of counterfeit pills and urges all Americans to take only medications prescribed by a medical professional and dispensed by a licensed pharmacist. The campaign aims to raise public awareness of a significant nationwide surge in fake pills that are mass-produced by criminal drug networks in labs, deceptively marketed as legitimate prescription pills, and are killing unsuspecting Americans at an unprecedented rate. For more information, please visit https://www.dea.gov/onepill.

This case was investigated by the DEA; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF); and Longview Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lucas Machicek.

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