United States of America v. Blake Alfonso Kolessa

Miami, Florida criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with Selling Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Opioids

Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Selling Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Opioids

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. Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Funk prosecuted it.



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.



Synthetic drugs, such as fentanyl, are poisoning the nation. Fentanyl has proven to be a deadly poison that does not discriminate. Its victims include every gender, race, age, and economic background, and its debilitating effects are the same across all demographics. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. Even in small doses, fentanyl can be deadly. Just one fentanyl pill can kill, as noted in DEA's One Pill Can Kill campaign. As little as two milligrams, about the size of 5 grains of salt, can be fatal. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are the most common drugs involved in overdose deaths. Over 150 people die every day from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl. The State of Florida has also seen an exponential increase in overdoses associated with fentanyl. In 2022, more than 5,622 people died from overdoses involving fentanyl and fentanyl analogs in Florida.