Man sentenced to life in prison for fentanyl conspiracy

ST. LOUIS (AP) – A man has been sentenced to life in prison for leading a large-scale fentanyl distribution conspiracy in St. Louis.

A federal judge in St. Louis on Friday handed down the sentence for 56-year-old Gerald Hunter of Los Angeles, California.

He was convicted in October of several drug charges as well as two money laundering counts.

Federal prosecutors say a lengthy Drug Enforcement Administration investigation determined that Hunter was the out-of-state source supplying fentanyl for a drug organization in St. Louis.

In April 2017, DEA agents seized 27 kilograms of fentanyl in suburban St. Louis, but Hunter ran from investigators. He evaded arrest for three years until U.S. Marshals arrested him in 2020.