Rodrigus Lee Pearson, Fentanyl Trafficking, Alabama 2016

BIRMINGHAM – A Birmingham man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for distributing fentanyl that caused the death of a 20-year-old woman, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge Bret Hamilton.

Rodrigus Lee Pearson, 31, pleaded guilty to illegally distributing fentanyl, resulting in a death in January 2016 in Jefferson County. Pearson also pleaded guilty to distributing heroin on Feb. 8, 2016, distributing fentanyl on Feb. 23, 2016, possessing with intent to distribute heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine on March 30, 2016, and being a felon illegally possessing a gun, an H & K .40-caliber pistol, on March 30, 2016.

Pearson entered a binding plea agreement with the government that stipulated a 20-year sentence for the crime of distributing an opioid drug that resulted in a death. The possible statutory sentence for that crime is 20 years to life in prison. Twenty years in prison is the maximum penalty for the heroin and fentanyl distribution charges, and 10 years is the maximum prison sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The 20-year-old woman, Ashlynn Bailey, was a former University of Alabama student who died after purchasing fentanyl from Pearson. Witnesses stated that Bailey had been purchasing heroin from Pearson and that he likely substituted the fentanyl, which was found in her system, for heroin.

Posey said, “Fentanyl kills in tiny doses – a few salt-sized grains. Most fentanyl on the streets is being made illegally in drug-dealer labs, and here and across the country overdose deaths soar as dealers add fentanyl to heroin to make it more potent.”

Hundreds of people have died in Jefferson County due to fentanyl and heroin overdoses in recent years. In 2016, the medical examiner’s office reported 106 overdose deaths caused by fentanyl and 100 by heroin, with 40 of those deaths caused by a combination of the two drugs. The fentanyl deaths more than doubled from 49 in 2015.

Pearson’s sentencing is scheduled for July 12. Pearson’s previous conviction was in Jefferson County Circuit Court in September 2014 for unlawful possession of a controlled substance.

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