A Mapleton man was sentenced to two years in prison in U.S. District Court in Portland on Thursday, July 9, for intending to distribute fentanyl.
Christopher Myshrall, 35, will spend two years in prison and three years under supervised release. He pleaded guilty to the charge of possession of fentanyl with the intent to distribute in November.
On Nov. 1, 2018, Maine State Police pulled over a car for a traffic stop in which Myshrall was a passenger near York. They had begun following the vehicle after they noticed suspicious activity from the driver, and after finding out the car was registered to a woman who did not appear to be inside, according to court records.
After being alerted by a narcotics detection dog, police searched the vehicle for illegal drugs. They found 700 small packets of fentanyl inside hidden compartments near the vehicle’s engine.
An investigation by the Maine State Police and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration revealed that Myshrall and the vehicle’s driver had acquired the fentanyl in Massachusetts and intended to distribute it in Maine.
The U.S. Attorney’s office prosecuted Myshrall as part of the Department of Justice’s Operation Synthetic Opioid Surge. The program — inaugurated by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions in 2018 — was implemented to fight the proliferation of deadly opioids like tramadol and fentanyl across the United States.
Myshrall has a criminal record that includes drug possession and criminal trespassing charges in 2015 and a probation violation charge in 2016.
The United States Attorney’s Office said because Myshrall was not in the Federal Bureau of Prisons database, he was likely being held in a jail outside federal custody.
