Man sentenced to 9 years for dealing fentanyl to Portland teen who fatally overdosed in 2022

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A Portland man was sentenced Wednesday to nine years in prison for distributing fentanyl to a teenager who later died of an overdose. 

Tanner Welsh’s 108-month sentence to federal prison will be followed by three years of supervised release, according to the Department of Justice. 

The 21-year-old pleaded guilty back in December in the case which was related to the fatal overdose of a 17-year-old Portland resident. The charge was one count of distributing fentanyl to a person under the age of 21.

Following his arrest in Jan. 2023 by Homeland Security agents, in which officials said Welsh admitted to selling fentanyl and Xanax to the teen, a federal grand jury in Portland indicted him in Feb. 2023. 

The original incident occurred on Nov. 10, 2022, in which Portland Police Bureau officers responded to a fatal overdose of the teen. Police located several small blue pills near the teen’s body, suspected to be counterfeit Oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl. An autopsy later confirmed the teen died from fentanyl poisoning.