Nevada man admits to mailing fentanyl to Park City resident

A DEA officer chats with a member of the police as the SWAT and K-9 Units present to the students at McPolin Elementary. Photo: TownLIft

PARK CITY, Utah – Twenty-two-year-old Colin Shapard, a Nevada resident living in Las Vegas, admitted that he distributed fentanyl pills through the mail, which almost killed a Park City resident in Feb. of 2022.

Shapard has been charged with one count of distribution of fentanyl resulting in serious bodily injury and five counts of distribution of fentanyl in federal court by the U.S. Attorneys in Utah.

Court records and admissions made during his change of plea hearing state that on Feb. 1, 2022, Shapard shipped a package to a Park City resident that contained numerous fentanyl pills. Shapard admitted that he was aware that the drug fentanyl was illegal to distribute and was a controlled narcotic.

On Feb. 10, 2022, the package’s recipient, an 18-year-old male from Park City, experienced major bodily harm after ingesting the tablets, which caused him to lose consciousness. After discovering his unresponsive son, the victim’s father dialed 911. Emergency medical personnel arrived and gave the victim Narcan, the emergency overdose treatment.

The victim was hospitalized and survived. The following day, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents discovered that the victim overdosed on blue M30 fentanyl pills, which were purchased from Shapard.

After the victim’s phone was examined, text messages purportedly facilitating the victim and Shapard’s illicit drug transactions were found. Postal Inspectors were able to obtain photos of Shapard allegedly shipping the parcel from the University Post by using shipping information he had allegedly sent to the victim via text message.

The complaint against Shapard states that law enforcement has been tracking and following Shapard’s shipments of fentanyl since 2021.

The Park City Police Department and the Summit County Sheriff’s Office employed DEA task force officers in Nov. 2021 after discovering illicit drug shipments containing opioids were being sent from Las Vegas to Park City.

The DEA agents later discovered that Shapard was the purported supplier of the drugs and that he was shipping opioids from Las Vegas to Utah using delivery services like the U.S. Mail.

Officers also discovered that Shapard had promised incentives to a person in Park City for distributing the drugs on his behalf, and that each blue pill, marked as counterfeit 30 mg oxycodone “M30,” cost between $30 and $40.

By Nov. 2021, it is alleged that Shapard had shipped between 10 and 30 of the blue M30 pills every two weeks over the previous two to three months to an individual in Park City. The DEA officers learned that Shapard was allegedly using encrypted cellular applications to arrange the shipment of the fake oxycodone pills to Park City.

A package that was sent from Las Vegas to Park City was picked up by USPS inspectors on Dec. 8, 2021. Photographs of the person who had supposedly shipped the package from the University Post Office in Las Vegas were obtained by Postal Inspectors.

The package was subjected to a search warrant, 35 blue M30 counterfeit oxycodone tablets bearing the numbers “M” and “30” on one side were found. Fentanyl tests on the pills came back positive.

An undercover DEA agent got in touch with Shapard in Dec. 2021 and tried to buy blue oxycodone 30mg pills from him. According to reports, Shapard said that although he charged more for these tablets, they were authentic pharmaceuticals from Canada that didn’t include fentanyl.

Additionally, Shapard is said to have cautioned the undercover agent, saying, “30 mg of oxycodone is still the very strong/the strongest they make.”

Postal cameras in Las Vegas are said to have captured Shapard mailing the requested pills to the DEA undercover agent on Jan. 31, 2022. A package meant for the undercover DEA agent was intercepted by a postal inspector in Utah on Feb. 4, 2022.

DEA officers found fifteen blue M30 pills inside the package. The pills had the numbers “M” and “30” printed on them. Fentanyl tests on the pills came back positive. Nine more yellow pills were found in the package and were added to the evidence.

The DEA undercover agent placed another order for blue 30 mg oxycodone pills from Shapard after the Park City overdose incident on Feb. 10. On Feb. 14, Shapard allegedly shipped the pills ordered by the undercover agent.

Shapard allegedly sent a message to the undercover agent to confirm if the undercover agent had received the package. The undercover agent’s response to the message was delayed by a weekend. After this delay, and after hearing the undercover agent received the package, Shapard allegedly wrote, “Sorry about being so worried…Just wanted to check in and make sure you weren’t dead, as (it’s) never a good sign when someone goes MIA after getting a (expletive) ton of opiates.”

Shepard pleaded guilty to distribution of a controlled substance that resulted in serious bodily injury. He is scheduled to be sentenced Apr. 4, 2024 in Salt Lake City.