HARRISBURG — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Pennsylvania, Middle), published as received.

HARRISBURG - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Chief United States District Court Judge Christopher C. Conner sentenced Nathan A. Ott, age 34, of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, to 210 months’ imprisonment for conspiring to distribute fentanyl.

According to United States Attorney David J. Freed, Ott pled guilty in July 2017 to conspiring to distribute fentanyl in Chambersburg between October 2015 through May 2017. 

Ott obtained kilogram quantities of fentanyl and then pressed and distributed the fentanyl pills. Ott began by using a manual pill press but was unable to keep up with demand and purchased a motorized press capable of making 5,000 pills an hour.  Ott purchased the ingredients to manufacture the fentanyl pills on the internet through the “dark web.” Ott distributed the fentanyl pills via the internet and to his co-conspirators who further distributed the pills to consumers. Ott began to sell the pills over the internet, using the dark web, in March 2017.

Chief Judge Conner also ordered Ott to forfeit $164,010 in cash and 19.7128804 in Bitcoin (with a current value of approximately $120,000). 

Ott was charged in July 2017 with six other individuals.  All of his co-defendants are awaiting trial.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Franklin County District Attorney’s Office, the Franklin County Drug Task Force, the Chambersburg and the Shippensburg Police Departments and the Pennsylvania State Police.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Daryl F. Bloom prosecuted the case.

Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid analgesic that is similar to morphine, but is 50 to 100 times more potent than heroin.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. Attorney General Jeff Sessions reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.

This case also was brought as part of a district wide initiative to combat the nationwide epidemic regarding the use and distribution of heroin.  Led by the United States Attorney’s Office, the Heroin Initiative targets heroin traffickers operating in the Middle District of Pennsylvania and is part of a coordinated effort among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who commit heroin related offenses.

 

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