An Urban County Government employee charged with possession with intent to distribute large quantities of fentanyl in Fayette County was in court Thursday.
William Dixon with the city’s Division of Water Quality was indicted by a federal grand jury earlier this month. The substances sized at his residence – more than 40 grams of pure fentanyl – represent the largest seizure of the drug to date in Lexington.
U.S. Attorney Kerry Harvey praised the timing of the Lexington police and the DEA search.
"There's no question that we were fortunate to seize this quantity of fentanyl before it hit our streets because there would have been certainly an extreme likelihood that there would have been overdoses that would have resulted from folks who ingested this substance," he told WUKY.
Up to 100 times stronger than morphine, fentanyl is a powerful synthetic painkiller often mixed with batches of heroin without buyers’ knowledge, making for a sometimes deadly combination.
Dixon is currently on paid leave following an injury on the job. He could face between five and forty years of jail time if convicted. Thursday the judge refrained from ruling on Dixon's detention while he awaits trial.
Meanwhile, a Lexington grand jury has indicted two men – Robert Shields and Wesley Hamm – in connection with a series of overdoses in Montgomery County.
