Onandas Carmece Beard, Heroin and Fentanyl Trafficking, Alabama 2023

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Table of Contents

Three Birmingham Residents Sentenced for Heroin and Fentanyl Trafficking

Birmingham, AL – In a significant blow to the city’s heroin and fentanyl trade, three Birmingham residents have been sentenced for conspiring to traffic nearly $2 million worth of the deadly substances.

On October 24, 2016, U.S. District Court Judge L. Scott Coogler sentenced ONANDAS CARMECE BEARD, 19, to five years in prison; ANTHONY LEVY ALEXANDER, 57, to eight years and nine months in prison, and BETTY LEVY ALEXANDER, 50, to nine years and five months in prison. Each of the defendants last year pleaded guilty to the conspiracy, acknowledging their involvement in the distribution of multiple kilograms of heroin and fentanyl between September 2015 and October 2016 in Jefferson County.

The indictment in the case sought a $1.7 million monetary judgment against the defendants as proceeds of illegal activity. The amount of fentanyl trafficked in the conspiracy was about 4.6 kilograms, or nearly 233,000 user doses of the drug. The total amount of heroin trafficked was about 5 kilograms, or approximately 50,000 user doses.

Betty Alexander was responsible for trafficking 4.6 kilograms of pure fentanyl and Anthony Alexander, her brother, with trafficking 5 kilograms of heroin and 1.5 kilograms of fentanyl.

The DEA investigated the case in conjunction with the Birmingham and Hoover police departments and the U.S. Marshals Service. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama is prosecuting the case.

The Birmingham Metro Area and other parts of North Alabama have seen a dramatic rise in the number of overdose deaths attributed to fentanyl or a combination of heroin and fentanyl, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey. "Most heroin users have no idea whether the drug they are using contains fentanyl, and while heroin can be deadly, fentanyl is much more potent. Our office is committed to the kind of joint law enforcement effort that took down this large-scale supply operation and, undoubtedly, saved lives," Posey said.