HAMPTON ROADS, Va. — It has been called the deadliest drug threat to our country.
For months, News 3 has been sharing stories of families torn apart by illegal fentanyl.
Investigations
Deadly Disguise: How big of an issue is fentanyl in Virginia?
Virginia's Attorney General, Jason Miyares, called the issue of fentanyl in the Commonwealth a “crisis,” adding that four to seven Virginians are dying a day to opioid and fentanyl overdoses.
One Hampton Roads mother impacted by this is Sharon Roberts of Chesapeake.
“A Different Way of Life”
“This is my first Mother’s Day where I'll be without my sons,” said Roberts. “It's definitely a different way of life.”
Memories of Roberts' son, Shawn Roberts, are displayed around her Chesapeake home.
“He was funny, couldn't stay mad,” she said.
One of the photos of Shawn was taken just 10 days before he died in September 2018. For Roberts, it feels like yesterday.
“My husband found him dead upstairs,” she said. “He (Shawn) told us the night before that he loved us, which was something we had always told our family. That morning, he was dead.”
With many questions, her family had an autopsy done to find answers.
“The cause of death was a fake Xanax laced with fentanyl and heroin,” Roberts said. “It's horrible because you're like, 'Where did he get it from? Where did he get it from? Why did he get it from somebody?' It's just devastating.”
The spot at their home where Shawn took his last photo is now filled with a banner and signs raising awareness about the dangers of fentanyl poisoning.
“People slow down and look at it. People have stopped here and talked with us about it,” Roberts said. “I'm not embarrassed at any of that. He was deceived, and I want everybody to know this is real."
How is illegal fentanyl getting into Hampton Roads?
“There's a real danger to fentanyl,” said Jim Stitzel, Assistant Special Agent in Charge at Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Norfolk.
A Hampton Roads native, Stitzel has a vested interest in the fight against fentanyl.
“As someone that's homegrown here, as a local, it's really important to me,” he said. “It breaks my heart every time I hear a story.”
In the last year, Stitzel said HSI Norfolk alone seized nearly 25 kilograms of fentanyl, including counterfeit pills and tablets.
“One kilo of fentanyl... can be converted into 1.5 million pills or tablets,” Stitzel said.
News 3 asked HSI Norfolk officials how illegal fentanyl is getting into Hampton Roads.
“Definitely what we've seen over the last three or more years is there's been an uptick on international parcels coming in,” Stitzel said.
Stitzel said packages can come directly from Asia-Pacific countries, Mexico, and Central and South America.
“We're trying to get these packages right when they first hit U.S. soil,” he said.
Stitzel also mentioned HSI is focusing on dark web marketplaces popping up, where many purchases are made, including for counterfeit pills.
“Take OxyContin for an example, they think they're just getting it at a cheaper price. They're getting it without a prescription. What they don't know is the person that makes these items isn't a chemist. It wasn't made in a lab, and there's, really, a high risk,” Stitzel said. “Forty percent of these tablets are being found to have hot, lethal doses of fentanyl.”
Stitzel said illegal fentanyl has been getting into Hampton Roads mainly through the air or our highways. He believes it's our access points that make our area unique when it comes to fentanyl trafficking in Virginia.
“You can get here by boat. You can get here by plane. You can drive in here easily. You can be disguised in all three of those efforts as well,” Stitzel said.
Cracking down on illegal fentanyl
Stitzel helps oversee the Norfolk Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST).
The Norfolk BEST is comprised of local, state, and federal partners to help secure borders and get illegal drugs off the streets.
“We may go out on surveillance. We may use some of our undercover capacities to conduct an undercover purchase, or we may do a controlled delivery of a package that's come in with illicit substances, and we've done a full dive on where it's going and we've identified a target,” Stitzel said.
One recent case involving HSI Norfolk and the Virginia Beach Police Dept. resulted in an Idaho man being sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison.
Investigators said from at least November 2021 to February 2022, massive amounts of fentanyl and methamphetamine were transported from California to several spots in the U.S., including Florida, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Hampton Roads.
Over three cross-country trips, the man had 27.9 kilograms of fentanyl, which HSI officials said is enough to potentially cause a deadly overdose of 14 million people.
“This was a case where the fentanyl was driven into the area,” Stitzel said. “We received information, we were able to make an arrest, and we were able to seize the fentanyl and get good information that led to additional cases [and] investigations.”
Putting grief into fighting the fentanyl crisis
“I'm mad at these drug dealers,” Roberts said. “They need to be held accountable.”
She supports law enforcement's efforts as she continues her work connecting with other families and sharing information.
“I've taken on the illicit fentanyl fight to save other people's children,” Roberts said. “No one is immune from this at all.”
Overall, she hopes no one else goes through the pain her family has experienced.
“I can't bring Shawn back. So my job, my goal right now... I put my grief into fighting the fentanyl crisis,” Roberts said. “That's how I'm surviving.”
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), if you come across fentanyl in any form, do not handle it and call 911 immediately.
Meanwhile, if you or someone you know is facing mental or substance abuse disorders, you can call the 24/7 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
