A Tipp City, Ohio, man has been charged in a federal case alleging he supplied fentanyl traffickers in southern Ohio with powerful cutting agents imported from China, officials stated Wednesday.
Prosecutors say Eric Michael Payne, 39, ordered multi-kilogram shipments from Chinese chemical companies posing as pharmacies.
Authorities believe the group obtained at least 10 kilograms of cutting agents, enough to yield more than 150 kilograms of fentanyl mixture for street sales. Some additives included animal tranquilizers hundreds of times stronger than morphine.
Payne’s partner, Auriyon Tresan Rayford, 24, and Ciandrea Bryne Davis, 39, of Atlanta, allegedly helped transfer more than $60,000 in cryptocurrency to Chinese suppliers and allowed drugs to be stored in Rayford’s home.
All three face charges of fentanyl trafficking and international money laundering. Payne is also charged with fentanyl possession and evidence tampering.
Four Chinese companies and two dozen nationals were indicted.
All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
The U.S. Treasury simultaneously sanctioned Guangzhou Tengyue Chemical Co. and two of its representatives.