Felon who Supplied Fentanyl that Resulted in One Fatal and Two Nonfatal Overdoses Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Thursday sentenced a convicted felon who supplied the fentanyl that caused one fatal and two nonfatal overdoses in St. Louis in 2023 to 15 years in prison.

On Dec. 2, 2023, Victor Mora approached three men who were at a gas station and offered to take them to buy cocaine. The victims gave Mora $140 and asked for $100 worth of cocaine. Mora got into the victims’ car and directed them to a different location, where he purchased capsules containing white powder from a group of people in the street. Mora told the victims that the capsules contained cocaine, and when the victims returned to the gas station, they snorted the drugs in the car.

St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers later found the three men unconscious. Two of the victims regained consciousness, but the third victim could not be resuscitated and was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The next day, an undercover detective drove one of the victims to the area where Mora purchased the drugs. They spotted Mora, who told the detective to meet him later to buy drugs. Mora was arrested later that day.

Capsules recovered from the victims’ vehicle were tested and contained fentanyl. The deceased victim died of a fentanyl overdose.

“The human life is worth infinitely more than the $140 Victor Mora received from selling purported cocaine to the victims who suffered fentanyl poisoning and in one tragic case, succumbed to the substance,” DEA St. Louis Division Special Agent in Charge Michael Davis said. “Today and every day, remind your loved ones how valuable they are. Remind them of the potentially lethal consequences that can come from drug experimentation. Fentanyl is deadly and its presence in other drugs can go unnoticed until it’s too late. Start the conversation and help save a life.”

Mora, now 41, was on supervised release at the time of his crime, after a 2018 robbery conviction. He pleaded guilty in July to one felony count of distribution of fentanyl.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the case. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Samantha Reitz prosecuted the case.