Edmond Township Man Sentenced to 1½ Years for Distribution of Furanyl Fentanyl and Counterfeit Prescription Drugs

Bangor, Maine:  United States Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced that James Cox, 55, of Edmond Township, Maine, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court by Judge John A. Woodcock, Jr. to 1½ years in prison and three years of supervised release for distributing furanyl fentanyl and counterfeit drugs.  Cox pleaded guilty on February 26, 2019.

According to court records, on October 12, 2017, Cox offered to sell Percocet to a person working with law enforcement, but instead sold the person pills containing furanyl fentanyl, but not Percocet.  On February 3, 2018, Cox offered to sell oxycodone to the person, but instead sold the person counterfeit pills that contained carfentanil, but not oxycodone.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, the Maine State Police, the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office, and Ellsworth Police Department and prosecuted as part of the Department of Justice’s Strategy to Combat the Opioid Epidemic.