LOS ANGELES
A federal judge sentenced the leader of a narcotics distribution ring that imported a powerful fentanyl counterfeit from China and produced hundreds of thousands of opioid pills to 26 years in prison, officials announced.
Gary Resnik, 33, of Long Beach, led a conspiracy that imported acetyl fentanyl, a drug very similar to fentanyl, a powerful and highly addictive opioid.
Over the course of nine months in 2015 and 2016, Resnik’s organization sold approximately 40,000 to 45,000 pills each month, for between $4 to $8 per pill, according to prosecutors.
Acetyl fentanyl, which is many times more potent than heroin, is not approved for any legal use in the United States.
Resnik pled guilty in August 2017 to two felony offenses – conspiracy to manufacture and distribute narcotics (including acetyl fentanyl and ecstasy), and possession with the intent to distribute acetyl fentanyl.
Court documents indicate that Resnik was a drug dealer who distributed hundreds of thousands of pills designed to look like legitimate pharmaceuticals such as Vicodin and OxyContin.
However, the drugs imported from China included acetyl fentanyl, ecstasy, alprazolam, and a designer drug known on the street as PVP.
“Resnik led a sophisticated operation that used dangerous Chinese-made chemicals to manufacture counterfeit pharmaceuticals,” said U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna. “Through his makeshift labs, he put thousands of fentanyl analog pills on the streets, risking the lives of unsuspecting people. This sentence is well-deserved.”
When he pled guilty last year, Resnik admitted to importing from China bulk chemicals, including acetyl fentanyl, that was used to manufacture opioid pills.
His drug organization also illegally imported pill presses from China that were used to make pills in homemade labs in a Long Beach storage unit and Baldwin Park house.
Resnik acknowledged that drug enforcement agents seized over 11 kilograms of acetyl fentanyl from the Long Beach lab in addition to other large quantities of acetyl fentanyl and other illegal drugs from both labs, according to officials.
“Mr. Resnik preyed on our communities by flooding our streets with fentanyl. Today’s lengthy prison sentence is appropriate and further emphasizes the dangers that fentanyl and opioids pose to our communities,” said DEA Los Angeles Acting Special Agent in Charge Daniel C. Comeaux. “The DEA will tirelessly collaborate with our local, state and federal counterparts to take vicious drug traffickers, like Mr. Resnik, off the street.”
On one occasion during an investigation by the DEA, authorities seized narcotics – including thousands of opioid pills containing acetyl fentanyl, alprazolam pills, and ecstasy pills – from a man who had just purchased the drugs from members of the drug-trafficking organization operated by Resnick.
A co-defendant in this case – Christopher Bowen, 32, of downtown Los Angeles – was sentenced in May of this year to 26 years in prison for participating in the drug-trafficking conspiracy.