Seattle man sentenced to 7 years for selling fentanyl

SEATTLE (AP) — A Seattle man was sentenced to seven years in prison for repeatedly selling large amounts of fentanyl while out on bail on a drug charge.

Ricky Chavez Hernandez must also serve three years of supervision after serving his prison term under the sentencing imposed Wednesday by U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, prosecutors said.

Hernandez sold a quarter pound of powder fentanyl for $8,500 to someone working with law enforcement in April 2021, U.S. Attorney Nick Brown said in a press release. An analysis of the fentanyl he sold found animal tranquilizer, Brown said. He sold two more times before his arrest, Brown said.

Hernandez was out on bail for charges related to drug trafficking crimes from King County Superior Court at the time of the sales.

Prosecutors said fentanyl is deadly, not only for drug users but for others who can be inadvertently exposed. Hernandez “was mixing pure powdered fentanyl with various other substances at his house where his mother, girlfriend, and infant daughter lived.

Mixing drugs with the lethality of fentanyl, which can kill through air exposure alone, is dangerous enough. Doing so with an infant in the house indicates exceptional recklessness regarding the health risks to others,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo.