United States Drug Enforcement Administration

EL PASO, Texas – A San Antonio man was sentenced in a federal court in El Paso to 132 months in prison for distributing fentanyl-laced pills through the mail, leading to the death of an El Paso woman.

According to court documents, Brennan Dane Short, 49, sold counterfeit M-30 pills to a purchaser in El Paso on March 21, 2023. Short mailed a package containing the pills from a United States Postal Service location. On March 27, 2023, the purchaser of the pills was found deceased at a hotel. The El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office found that the deceased died of acute methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl toxicity though she “would not have died but for the fentanyl.”

Short was arrested on Aug. 15, 2023. He pleaded guilty April 4 to one count of distribution of a controlled substance causing death or serious bodily injury.

Towanda R. Thorne-James, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's El Paso Division and U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza of the Western District of Texas made the announcement. The DEA investigated the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Phillip Countryman prosecuted the case.

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