GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A Green Bay woman was sentenced for trafficking fentanyl disguised as Percocet.
After entering a guilty plea, Marianna KJ Zimmer, 20, was sentenced to eight years in prison followed by eight years of supervised release.
According to prosecutors, in August of 2022, while Zimmer was on probation for a prior felony conviction, she was arrested and investigators learned from jail, she was directing a friend to hide and destroy evidence of Zimmer’s fentanyl trafficking.
During a search, the Brown County Drug Task Force seized more than 8,400 fake Percocet pills containing fentanyl, over $38,500 in U.S. currency, and a stolen and loaded .45-caliber pistol. The fentanyl was in the form of blue pills imprinted with “M30” to mimic the legitimate prescription drug Percocet. Counterfeit “M30” pills are commonly made by Mexican drug cartels and smuggled into the United States.
In sentencing Zimmer, Judge William Griesbach stressed that Zimmer’s fentanyl dealing and unlawful firearm possession were serious offenses that presented a danger to the public, warranting significant punishment and a strong deterrent message to others. The judge also stressed that Zimmer’s offense was aggravated because she posted numerous images and videos of herself on Facebook in which she glamorized the life of a drug dealer, posing with large amounts of cash that she made by distributing drugs.
Officials say legitimate Percocet contains oxycodone and acetaminophen but not fentanyl. Like fentanyl, oxycodone is a Schedule II controlled substance that can be highly addictive and abused, but fentanyl is more dangerous.
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, 60% of the counterfeit “Percocet” pills tested in 2022 had a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl, up from 40% in 2021. The DEA Laboratory found that, of the fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills analyzed in 2022, six out of ten contain a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl. This is an increase from DEA’s previous announcement in 2021 that four out of ten fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills were found to contain a potentially lethal dose.
