Major fentanyl trafficker arrested in Oklahoma, almost $250K worth of fake pills seized

Oklahoma authorities announced on Thursday the arrest of a major fentanyl trafficker who is tied to an ongoing investigation of fake oxycodone being sold across the state where almost two dozen people have died in the past 15 months.

In addition to the arrest of the Oklahoma City man, officials with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics confiscated almost $250,000 worth of counterfeit oxycodone.

Authorities identified the suspect as Glenvert Lavell Jones, 27, of Oklahoma City.

Jones, who OBN agents identified as a major supplier of the fake pills laced with fentanyl, was arrested July 7 at his Oklahoma City home.

“He was arrested last week after receiving and attempting to distribute a shipment of 7,900 fentanyl pills worth nearly a quarter-million dollars on the streets,” said OBN spokesman Mark Woodward in a Thursday news release. “Agents also seized nearly 1,000 Percocet tablets and a firearm from the defendant.”

Woodward noted that fentanyl is a powerful and cheap drug that can be 100 to 1,000 times more potent than morphine or heroin.

“It is often purchased on the black market by drug organizations who use it as a filler in heroin or press the powder into pills that resemble legitimate U.S. pharmaceuticals,” Woodward said. “The pills are blue in color and stamped to look like 30 milligram Oxycodone. Side-by-side, it would be hard for anyone to tell the difference.”

Jones faces charges of distribution and trafficking of controlled substances.

Since May 2020, OBN agents have arrested nine people who have been charged in connection with deaths from the counterfeit oxycodone pills, Woodward said.

“We are concerned because these pills are continuing to circulate in communities across Oklahoma,” Woodward said. “We could see additional overdose victims.”