A 65-year-old man has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison after he took more than 6,000 fentanyl-laced pills from the Seattle area to the Tri-Cities.
Tommie Slack had often been the courier for one of his sons to deliver 10,000 fentanyl pills to fill an order that was placed every one to two weeks over several months, totaling about 60,000 pills before his arrest in December 2021, according to a court document that quoted an unnamed witness.
However, Slack’s attorney disputes whether the witness was credible.
Law enforcement agents had the witness arrange to buy more fentanyl at a cost of $5 per pill.
When the witness contacted Tommie Slack, he said that his son, Tramein Slack, was out and that “all of this is on me,” according to a federal court document.
At the time Tramein Slack was on probation after a four-year prison sentence for a federal drug conviction, according to a court document.
Tommie Slack arranged to meet the witness at the Hampton Inn in Richland.
When Tommie Slack arrived in a Mercedes Benz, the Tri-Cities Regional SWAT Team conducted a high risk arrest, according to court documents.