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A South Bend man faces more than 10 years in prison after being sentenced earlier this month for possessing hundreds of fentanyl pills at his residence.
U.S. District Judge Damon Leichty sentenced James Dockins, 37, of South Bend to 128 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to possessing with intent to distribute fentanyl, according to an Indiana Northern District news release.
Dockins’ sentence also includes three years of supervised release.
According to court documents, Dockins received a package that contained more than 400 grams of fentanyl pills in February 2024.
He stored the fentanyl pills in his home in a cabinet alongside other fentanyl pills that were packaged and ready for distribution.
When Dockins left his home, law enforcement attempted to stop him, but he fled in his car through a residential neighborhood and surrendered after he had crashed his car into a fire hydrant.
In a probable cause affidavit, a U.S. Postal Service inspector stated that he intercepted the package from the USPS South Bend Indiana Mail Processing Center and found it to have characteristics common to drug packages.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service including its forensic laboratory, with assistance from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the United States Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force, the Mishawaka Police Department, the St. Joseph County Police Department, and the Indiana State Police.
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