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An Evansville man who worked with an out-of-state partner in a counterfeit fentanyl distribution operation that brought thousands of pills from Arizona into Indiana will serve more than a decade in prison after being sentenced this week.
U.S. District Judge Richard Young sentenced Deriontai Mathis, 31, of Evansville to 11 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, after 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, of Arizona, had been sentenced in July of 2024 to five years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, after he pleaded guilty to distribution of fentanyl and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl.
According to court documents, between September and November of 2022, Mathis and Gilbert conspired together to buy and sell thousands of fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pills.
Gilbert, who resided in Arizona, would obtain the pills, ship or otherwise transport them to Indiana, and then fly to Indiana and drive the pills to Mathis in Evansville.
On Nov. 10, 2022, during a search of Mathis’s residence, investigators recovered nine plastic bags containing ten thousand counterfeit M-30 fentanyl pills hidden inside of a child’s toy car, a camouflaged backpack that contained $56,800 in cash, a body armor vest and nine firearms.
During a search of another residence Mathis used to store his contraband, officers recovered three additional handguns and a 12-gauge shotgun.
In 2015, Mathis was convicted for being a drug abuser in possession of a firearm, thereby prohibiting from ever legally possessing a firearm again.
This investigation also led to the discovery that Jeremial Leach was a customer of Mathis, purchasing counterfeit fentanyl pills for $10 per pill. In May of 2024, Leach was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for dealing fentanyl resulting in at least three overdoses and a teen’s death.
“The sentences imposed here should serve as a warning: these poisons kill—and selling them will earn you decades in federal prison,” said John Childress, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, said in a news release. “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 Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Evansville-Vanderburgh County Drug Task Force and Evansville Police Department investigated this case.
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