Photo: Brad Newgard
Two Portland area men are facing federal charges today for running a local drug trafficking organization responsible for making and distributing hundreds of thousands of counterfeit Oxycodone pills containing fentanyl.
James Dunn, Jr., 61, of Milwaukie, Oregon and Joshua Clay Wilfong, 50, of Vancouver, Washington have been charged by criminal complaint with conspiring with one another and others to manufacture, distribute, and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl and possessing with intent to distribute fentanyl.
According to court documents, in May 2021, law enforcements officials from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), FBI, the Clackamas County Interagency Task Force (CCITF) and the Clark County Sheriff’s Office began investigating a drug trafficking organization allegedly run by Dunn and Wilfong that was responsible for manufacturing and distributing hundreds of thousands of counterfeit Oxycodone pills containing fentanyl in the greater Portland Metropolitan Area.
The investigation revealed that Dunn purchased fentanyl in Mexico and smuggled it into the U.S. for use as an active ingredient in counterfeit prescription pills. Dunn would give the fentanyl to Wilfong who would produce the pills in a makeshift laboratory he maintained inside a storage unit in Vancouver. On October 12, 2022, Wilfong and Dunn were arrested while they were negotiating the sale of more than 300,000 fentanyl pills.
Investigators executed a search warrant on Wilfong’s storage unit and found a pill press and laboratory equipment covered in suspected fentanyl powder. Investigators later learned Wilfong and Dunn routinely sold hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills in single transactions and sold an average of 10,000 pills a week.
Dunn and Wilfong made their initial appearances in federal court today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jolie A. Russo. They were ordered detained as a flight risk and danger to the community pending further court proceedings.
This case is being investigated by HSI, FBI, CCITF, and the Clark County Sheriff’s Office. Scott Kerin, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, is prosecuting the case.
A criminal complaint is only an accusation of a crime, and defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
CCITF, led by the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, works to disrupt and dismantle drug trafficking organizations operating in Clackamas County, and reduce illegal drugs and related crimes throughout the community. The task force is comprised of members of the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, Canby Police Department, Oregon State Police, HSI, and FBI.
This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 80 to 100 times more powerful than morphine and 30 to 50 times more powerful than heroin. A 3-milligram dose of fentanyl—a few grains of the substance—is enough to kill an average adult male. The availability of illicit fentanyl in Oregon has caused a dramatic increase in overdose deaths throughout the state.
Source: U.S. Attorney for Oregon