By Trish Svoboda

A Kansas man received a 180-month prison sentence for trafficking fentanyl. Devonte Smith, 28, from Wichita, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.

Court documents reveal that in April 2023, Smith and a co-defendant flew from Wichita to Arizona to purchase fentanyl-laced pills, intending to bring them back to Kansas. Smith admitted in his plea agreement that he returned to Wichita while directing a co-defendant to transport the pills to Kansas, where law enforcement seized them during a car stop in Pratt. Tests confirmed the pills, totaling over 100,000, were laced with fentanyl.

Charges against the co-defendants are pending in court. The investigation involved multiple agencies including the FBI, Wichita Police Department, Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office, IRS-Criminal Investigation, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Deb Barnett and Ola Odeyemi.