Washington County Man Sentenced to Prison for Selling Heroin/Fentanyl that Caused Overdoses

PITTSBURGH - A resident of Washington, Pa., has been sentenced in federal court to 84 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervision, on his conviction of federal heroin and fentanyl offenses, Acting United States Attorney Soo C. Song announced today.

United States District Judge Arthur J. Schwab imposed the seven-year federal sentence on 24-year-old Ronald Douglas McMillian, Jr.

According to information presented to the court, McMillian sold fentanyl-laced heroin on August 16, 2015 and a woman overdosed on it. The next day, McMillian sold more of the drug to two males who also overdosed. Quick work by civilians, medics and police kept all three alive until they were revived by Narcan, a drug that specifically counteracts the effects of heroin and its much more potent and lethal synthetic cousin fentanyl.

Prior to imposing sentence, Judge Schwab indicated that seven years in prison was sufficient, but not greater than necessary, to help deter others from similar crimes and to punish McMillian.

Assistant United States Attorney Ross E. Lenhardt and Assistant United States Attorney Katie A. King are the federal prosecutors with the Violent Crimes Section who prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

Acting United States Attorney Song commended the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for leading the investigation that has resulted in the successful prosecution of McMillian and many other Washington County drug dealers.

The DEA has joined forces with many other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute the alarming number of recent overdoses in Washington County and the rest of the Western District of Pennsylvania. These agencies include the Canonsburg Police Department, the Monessen Police Department, the Washington County District Attorney’s Office, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, the Washington County District Attorney Drug Task Force, the Washington County Coroner’s Office, the Allegheny County Department of Laboratories, and the Pennsylvania State Police. Federal authorities have helped to create a “Fusion Center” where heroin and fentanyl seizures from law enforcement agencies, along with overdose information, can be gathered and disseminated. This permits law enforcement to share information obtained during individual incidents to obtain investigative leads and visualize the overall picture of heroin use, sales, overdoses and deaths.