Lethal Fentanyl Disguised As Oxycodone In Upper Merion: DA

UPPER MERION, PA — One man is in custody after police said lethal doses of fentanyl were sold around Upper Merion disguised as oxycodone.

The small blue pills, imprinted with "K | 9" may still be circulating the general Philadelphia metropolitan area and the public is urged to be on the lookout, the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office announced Thursday.

"People buying these poisons need to be very, very careful," DA Kevin Steele said in a statement. Fentanyl, described as many times deadlier than heroin, has been responsible for countless deaths amid the opioid epidemic. Its victims are often unaccustomed to the strength of the narcotic and many times do not realize what they are ingesting.

Steele noted a recent, unrelated Montgomery County death of a woman who thought she had purchased ecstasy, but lab reports showed it was actually fentanyl.

The accused drug trafficker, Leon M. Wright, 33, of Philadelphia, was taken into custody after detectives said they witnessed him conducting numerous drug sales around the area.

Wright ran his operation out of a home on the 500 block of South Goddard Drive in Upper Merion, police said, near the Village at Valley Forge and the King of Prussia Town Center.

While under police surveillance, Wright made several drug sales in the parking lot of the nearby LA Fitness and Wegmans, according to the DA.

Upon a search of Wright's home following his arrest, investigators said they found 347 of the blue fentanyl pills, crack cocaine, powder heroin and fentanyl, and numerous drug packaging and drug paraphernalia materials.

Police said they also found a Taurus handgun and $68,000 in cash.

Wright was arraigned on Sept. 5 and could not post $500,000 cash bail. He was booked at Montgomery County Correctional Facility, and a preliminary hearing is set for Sept. 21.