U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Monday sentenced a Missouri man to 14 years in prison for selling fentanyl, including the fentanyl that killed a man in 2018.
Antonio D. Hubbard, 44, of St. Louis, pleaded guilty in July to four felony charges of distribution of fentanyl and one charge of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. Hubbard admitted selling fentanyl to a man, identified in the plea agreement as “J.L.” J.L.’s mother found him dead on Nov. 9, 2018, with a needle in his arm after he’d fallen from his wheelchair. He died of acute fentanyl, hydrocodone, and ethanol intoxication.
Police investigated and traced the fentanyl to Hubbard. Investigators then purchased fentanyl from Hubbard on four occasions in April and May of 2019.
Hubbard was arrested on May 15, 2019, at a local mall where he was planning to sell fentanyl to an undercover investigator again, his plea agreement says. He had 609 capsules containing fentanyl and $3,707 in cash. At his apartment on Olive Street, they found $12,781 in cash, a pill press, and methadone.
“Hubbard seized upon the vulnerabilities of a victim who had already suffered a terrible injury resulting in paralysis and developed an addiction to opiates. He did so for his own profit,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany Becker wrote in a sentencing memo. In court Monday, she pointed out that Hubbard continued to sell fentanyl after learning of J.L.’s death.
The case was investigated by the St. Louis County Police Department and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany Becker is prosecuting the case.
