Local chef sentenced to 15 years in prison for selling fake ‘M30’ Percocet pills that contained fentanyl

CINCINNATI – Maurice B. Stewart, 41, of Cincinnati, was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to 180 months in prison for distributing fentanyl, as a result of a joint investigation by Mason Police Department and the Heroin Coalition Task Force. 

According to court documents, Stewart, who is also known as “Reese” and “Suave,
worked as a chef in various restaurants in and around Cincinnati. He used his employment to gain customers to buy blue purported “Percocet” pills from him. He’d often sell the blue pills to his coworkers while at work or to other customers directly outside the restaurant.

On Sept. 18, 2022, Stewart agreed to sell three pills to a customer for $60. They agreed to meet at the Westin Hotel in downtown Cincinnati. The customer’s mother discovered him unresponsive on their bathroom floor at 3:30am. First responders pronounced him dead at the scene and discovered one of the three blue pills. The victim’s toxicology report tested positive for fentanyl, and the coroner determined the cause of death was due to a fatal fentanyl overdose.

Stewart was indicted by a federal grand jury in January 2023 and pled guilty in July 2024.

Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Andrew Lawton, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Detroit; and Officials with the Mason Police Department and the Heroin Coalition Task Force announced the sentence imposed by U.S. District Court Judge Matthew W. McFarland. Assistant United States Attorneys David P. Dornette and Timothy D. Oakley are representing the United States in this case.

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, and gangs that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

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