Utah Man Found Guilty Of Running Major Opioid Drug Ring

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – A Utah man has been found guilty of running a multimillion-dollar opioid ring that sent hundreds of thousands of potentially deadly pills across the country from his suburban basement. A US jury reached the verdict Friday after deliberating less than a day in the case against 29-year-old Aaron Shamo. Prosecutors say he was the kingpin of the ring that peddled fake prescription pills laced with fentanyl to thousands of people. Authorities say the ring helped fuel the nation’s opioid epidemic and the 2016 bust ranked among the country’s largest. The jury deadlocked and made no finding on a charge that Shamo sold the drugs that caused the overdose death of a 21-year-old California man. The defense acknowledged that Shamo was selling drugs but argued that he couldn’t have run the operation alone and there wasn’t proof he caused the overdose.