Arizona Man Sentenced to 240 Months in Prison

FORT WAYNE -Alexander J. Short, 26 years old, of Phoenix, Arizona, was sentenced by United States District Court Chief Judge Holly A. Brady after pleading guilty to conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl, announced United States Attorney Clifford D. Johnson.

Short was sentenced to 240 months in prison followed by 5 years of supervised release.

According to documents in the case, from 2020 through 2023, Short engaged in a conspiracy to supply fentanyl pills to a distribution group in the Northern District of Indiana.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Fort Wayne Safe Streets Gang Task Force, which includes the Indiana State Police, the Allen County Sheriff's Department, and the Fort Wayne Police Department, with assistance from the Drug Enforcement Administration's North Central Laboratory, the Phoenix (Arizona) Police Department, the Glendale (Arizona) Police Department, and the Allen County (Indiana) Prosecuting Attorney's Office. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Anthony W. Geller and Lesley J. Miller Lowery.

This case was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.