TAMPA, Fla. - Jared Collins (28, Pasco County) was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment for distributing narcotics, resulting in death. Collins had pleaded guilty on April 27, 2021.
According to the plea agreement, on Dec. 16, 2019, Collins distributed narcotics to M.B. in Wesley Chapel. M.B. injected the narcotics and died. M.B. was found by family members, who immediately called 911. Deputies from the Pasco Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene and located a hypodermic syringe and a plastic bag, both of which tested positive for fentanyl. Law enforcement also recovered a cellphone that revealed that Collins had supplied M.B. with narcotics earlier that day.
The next day, deputies from the Pasco Sheriff’s Office arrested Collins as he was attempting to again distribute narcotics. Two syringes were found in his car, and two hypodermic syringes and a spoon with residue were found in his pocket, all of which tested positive for fentanyl. A federal search warrant was executed at Collins’s residence. Law enforcement officers recovered numerous items of drug paraphernalia, empty capsules containing traces of fentanyl, assorted spoons, straws, clear baggies, and approximately 20 syringes from his bedroom.
The Medical Examiner’s Office for Pasco and Pinellas Counties determined that M.B.’s cause of death was fentanyl toxicity.
On March 26, 2020, after bonding out of state custody, Collins again distributed fentanyl, this time to a law enforcement confidential source. The substance Collins distributed tested positive for fentanyl.
This case was investigated by Drug Enforcement Administration Tampa District Office and the Pasco Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
More information about this case can be found at https://www.flmd.uscourts.gov or https://ecf.flmd.uscourts.gov.
