Federal jury sentences El Paso dealer to decade in prison for selling fentanyl

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- 56-year-old Gary Everett Rinker will spend the next 130 months in prison after a federal court found him guilty of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.

Court documents state Rinker sold about 200 pills (19.8 grams of fentanyl) to a person at an El Paso hotel. He was arrested in July of 2023.

“This defendant was a prominent fentanyl dealer in the El Paso community who will spend the next decade off our streets, largely due to his extensive drug-related criminal history dating back to 2007,” said U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western District of Texas. “I commend the joint efforts of our partners at FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration, as well as the dedicated attorneys of the Western District who continue to aggressively prosecute these offenders.”