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Maryland man pleads guilty to operating fentanyl drug ring

Edwards made a plea agreement with D.C. admitting that he was responsible for producing at least 1.2 kilograms of a substance containing a cocaine and fentanyl mix.

WASHINGTON — A Maryland man has pleaded guilty to charges connected to a Fentanyl Distribution ring.

On Thursday, 29-year-old Collin Edwards pleaded guilty for his role in a drug ring and a separate charge of identity theft in a scheme involving unemployment insurance, collecting over $250,000.

Edwards made a plea agreement with the District of Columbia admitting that he was responsible for producing at least 1.2 kilograms of a substance containing a cocaine and fentanyl mixture. 

In August 2021, law enforcement began investigating a group believed to be operating a drug trafficking ring selling fentanyl pressed pills in-and-around Washington, D.C. and Maryland. Authorities learned the group was in possession of three pill pressing machines. Edwards is among six people named in the drug trafficking operation.

On March 22, 2022, the FBI executed a search warrant at an apartment in Southeast, D.C. Officers seized baggies of pills and loose powder, together amounting to more than 516 pills and more than 76 grams of a mixture and substance containing fentanyl. Edwards admitted that he and other co-conspirators illegally netted at least $250,000 through the scheme.

Edwards faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 12 years in prison when he is sentenced on March 5, 2024. Edwards also has agreed to forfeit $100,000.

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