They were selling carfentanil where people frequently overdosed. Now they face prison

Two drugs dealers whose arrests led to the recovery of more than 55 grams of carfentanil each have taken plea deals on the charges they were facing.

On Thursday, Michael Sandusky, 23, pleaded guilty to three counts of sale of carfentanil, three counts of sale or possession of carfentanil with intent to sell within 1,000 feet of a church, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Sandusky, who could have faced up to 125 years in prison, was sentenced to 12 years followed by three years of drug offender probation as part of a plea deal.

Michael White, 29, pleaded to two counts of sale of carfentanil but his sentence was negotiated. He will be sentenced on Nov. 6 and is facing up to 30 years in prison.

Carfentanil — a synthetic form of fentanyl that is 10,000 times more powerful than morphine and is used as a tranquilizer to subdue large, exotic animals such as rhinos, elephants and hippos — has been blamed for contributing to the spike of overdoses because dealers have been cutting it into the heroin supply or selling it as heroin.

“The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office and the Sarasota State Attorney’s Office are committed to fighting opioid abuse and deaths by using every tool at our disposal,” Assistant State Attorney Kate Darby Wallace said in a statement. “Criminals like Sandusky and White are knowingly selling the most dangerous opioid of them all, carfentanil, with an utter lack of disregard for the pain and misery they are inflicting on this community.”

Between March and April, Sandusky sold suspected heroin on several occasions to a confidential source who had been working with Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office detectives. For two of the transactions, however, Sandusky sent White, whom he referred to as his “brother.”

Each time, the heroin later tested positive for carfentanil, according to the sheriff’s office.

During the last exchange at Sandusky’s house on Theodore Avenue, the confidential source told detectives that Sandusky had taken the suspected heroin out of a large bag. When detectives later searched the house after obtaining a search warrant, they found the bag containing 55 grams of carfentanil and with Sandusky’s fingerprints on it.

Between 2016 and 2017, the sheriff’s office said it responded to seven opioid overdoses at that house, and Sandusky was there for all of them. White was present for two of the seven.

This story was originally published October 5, 2017 at 6:18 PM with the headline "They were selling carfentanil where people frequently overdosed. Now they face prison."