Two men have been sentenced to a total of 16 years in federal prison for their involvement in a drug trafficking operation that transported thousands of counterfeit fentanyl pills from Arizona to Evansville.
Deriontai Mathis, 31, from Evansville, received an 11-year federal prison sentence followed by five years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and conspiracy to distribute fentanyl.
Ernest Gilbert, 38, from Arizona, was sentenced in July 2024 to five years in federal prison with three years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty to distribution of fentanyl and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute over 400 grams of fentanyl.
Court documents revealed that between September and November 2022, Mathis and Gilbert collaborated to buy and sell thousands of counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl. Gilbert acquired the pills in Arizona and transported them to Indiana before delivering them personally or via shipment to Mathis in Evansville.
On November 10, 2022, investigators found ten thousand counterfeit M-30 fentanyl pills hidden inside a child’s toy car during a search at Mathis’s residence. They also discovered $56,800 in cash inside a camouflaged backpack along with body armor and nine firearms. Additional searches uncovered more firearms at another location used by Mathis for storing contraband.
Mathis had previously been convicted in 2015 for being a drug abuser in possession of a firearm, making it illegal for him ever again legally possess firearms.
The investigation further uncovered that Jeremial Leach was one of Mathis’s customers who bought counterfeit fentanyl pills at $10 each. In May 2024, Leach was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for dealing fentanyl leading to at least three overdoses and the death of a teenager.
“The sentences imposed here should serve as a warning: these poisons kill—and selling them will earn you decades in federal prison,” stated John E. Childress, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. “Our office remains committed to working hand-in-hand with our state, local and federal partners in order to keep our communities safe, hold drug traffickers accountable, and stop the flow of deadly substances into our neighborhoods.”
The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Evansville-Vanderburgh County Drug Task Force alongside the Evansville Police Department. The sentences were handed down by U.S District Judge Richard L Young.
Acting U.S Attorney Childress expressed gratitude towards Assistant U.S Attorney Lauren Wheatley who prosecuted this case.
