Clifford D. Johnson, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana
Alexander J. Short, a 26-year-old resident of Phoenix, Arizona, has been sentenced to 240 months in prison following his guilty plea to charges of conspiring to distribute and possess fentanyl with the intent to distribute. The sentencing was handed down by United States District Court Chief Judge Holly A. Brady.
In addition to his prison term, Short will be subject to five years of supervised release. According to case documents, from 2020 through 2023, Short was involved in a conspiracy that supplied fentanyl pills to a distribution network operating in the Northern District of Indiana.
The investigation into this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Fort Wayne Safe Streets Gang Task Force. This task force includes participation from the Indiana State Police, Allen County Sheriff’s Department, and Fort Wayne Police Department. Additional support came from the Drug Enforcement Administration’s North Central Laboratory and police departments in Phoenix and Glendale, Arizona, as well as the Allen County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office in Indiana.
Assistant United States Attorneys Anthony W. Geller and Lesley J. Miller Lowery prosecuted the case. It was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation aimed at identifying and dismantling high-level drug traffickers and criminal organizations threatening the United States through a coordinated approach involving multiple law enforcement agencies.