Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Selling Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Opioids
MIAMI– On Dec. 10, Blake Alfonso Kolessa, 27, of Greenacres, Fla., was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks for possessing with intent to distribute metonitazene, N-desethyl isotonitazene, and methamphetamine.
Kolessa previously pled guilty to selling thousands of pressed pills containing metonitazene, N-desethyl isotonitazene, and methamphetamine, between January and June 2024. Kolessa also admitted possessing over six kilograms of powders and pressed pills containing fentanyl, protonitazene and N-pyrrolidino protonitazene.
U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge Deanne Reuter of the DEA Miami Field Division, and West Palm Beach Police Chief Tony Araujo made the announcement.
DEA West Palm Beach and the West Palm Beach Police Department investigated the case. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida.
According to the DEA’s National Drug Threat Assessment, nitazenes are synthetic opioids, like fentanyl, but some nitazenes can match or surpass the potency of fentanyl. Different nitazenes have been appearing in fentanyl mixtures in the United States since 2019. When combined with fentanyl, the effects of both drugs are heightened, which significantly increases the chance of a fatal drug poisoning.
