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Seattle – Leon Henderson, 34, is headed to federal prison for two decades after a jury found him guilty of turning a profit off the city’s opioid crisis. Henderson was sentenced today after a three-day trial revealed a massive fentanyl operation targeting some of Seattle’s most vulnerable residents.
Cops first caught Henderson with a stash of over 1,000 fentanyl pills in January 2023. He was arrested again in May, with more, and then again in September – each time packing over a thousand of the deadly pills, plus loaded firearms. The final bust revealed the scope of his operation: 18,000+ fentanyl pills, 220 grams of fentanyl powder, and 700 grams of methamphetamine. Henderson peddled the pills for a buck apiece, enough to potentially cause “18,000 potential overdoses,” according to the judge.
U.S. District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead didn’t mince words, noting Henderson knowingly preyed on homeless addicts who “would struggle to resist the temptation.” Prosecutors and FBI agents say Henderson didn’t learn his lesson after multiple arrests, consistently increasing his supply with each bust.
The crackdown, centered around the North Aurora area, was a joint effort between the FBI and Seattle Police, designed to hit crime hotspots with federal muscle. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd said Henderson was a “habitual criminal” taken off the street, along with a significant supply of deadly drugs and illegal guns.