FORT WAYNE -Yesterday, Brandon O. Sanders, 29 years old, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, was sentenced by United States District Court Chief Judge Holly A. Brady after pleading guilty to distributing and possessing with intent to distribute fentanyl and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, announced United States Attorney Clifford D. Johnson.

Sanders was sentenced to 180 months in prison followed by 4 years of supervised release.

According to documents in the case, between August and September 2023, on four separate occasions Sanders sold over 4,000 fentanyl pills. Additional fentanyl pills, evidence of drug trafficking, a loaded firearm and $28,000 was found during a search of his residence. Sanders has previous convictions for felony distribution of a controlled substance of and a handgun offense, and as such is prohibited from possessing the firearm in this case.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Fort Wayne Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Stacey R. Speith.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.