A 46-year-old metro-Phoenix woman was sentenced this week to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to distributing fentanyl-laced pills that killed a man nearly two years ago. 

Investigators with the Drug Enforcement Administration in Phoenix said Fany Madrigal-Lopez, of Peoria, sold Mexican-made fentanyl pills disguised as oxycodone to customers in 2016. Among her clients was a 38-year-old man who bought the blue pills that November and died from what the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office deemed a fentanyl overdose.

Madrigal-Lopez pleaded guilty in April to a pair of drug charges, including distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death, court records show. The rarely-used count carries a harsher sentence — including the possibility of life in prison — compared to more typical drug distribution charges.

Hers is among a small-but-growing number of cases where prosecutors charge dealers for the fatal overdose of their customers.

MORE: Deaths from heroin, painkiller abuse surge in Arizona

“While the nation is in the midst of an opioid epidemic, the DEA has expanded its scope to not only target the largest drug traffickers in the world, but to assist agencies throughout the state in combating the local fentanyl epidemic wreaking havoc on Arizona communities,” Doug Coleman, special agent in charge of the DEA in Arizona, said in a statement. 

Prosecutors said Madrigal-Lopez worked with her children for two years and distributed fentanyl-laced pills designed to look like oxycodone.

The drugs were sometimes stamped with “M-30” to give the appearance they were typical prescriptions, but they were often laced with potent drugs, like fentanyl, and have been blamed for a series of accidental overdoses. 

According to court papers, Madrigal-Lopez and her children found out about one customer’s fatal overdose. Still, they kept distributing pills across the Phoenix area until DEA agents searched the home and found more fentanyl-laced pills disguised as oxycodone. 

U.S. District Court Judge Douglas Rayes previously sentenced Madrigal-Lopez’s three adult children to probation and supervised release. 

“This first-of-its-kind sentencing in Arizona illustrates DEA’s commitment to local partnerships through our Heroin Enforcement Action Team and using all resources available to us to protect American citizens from the scourge of fentanyl trafficking,” Coleman said.

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office on Wednesday said there did not appear to be any homicide-related charges filed against a drug dealer who contributed to a fatal overdose, spokeswoman Amanda Steele said. 

“That’s not to say the office couldn’t pursue a case like that if it met certain elements,” she said.

The counterfeit blue pills are widely available on the streets, though users dealing with addiction say they are increasingly aware of the risks. They also been the subject of some high-profile drug busts in the Valley, including a traffic stop last year in Tempe that netted 30,000 pills. 

For years, officials and experts have grappled with how to handle the scourge wrought by highly addictive opioids, both prescription and illicit.

The topic has become central to public health in Arizona, where an estimated 1,600 people died of opioid-related overdoses in the 14 months since a June 2017 enhanced state tracking effort began.

In August, officials announced that, despite their best efforts — including steps that are still in the works — heroin and prescription opioids accounted for the deaths of 949 Arizonans in 2017, up from 800 deaths in 2016.

In 2012, heroin and prescription opioids were responsible for 454 deaths. 

Reach the reporter at 602-444-8515, [email protected] or on Twitter: @pohl_jason. 

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