A federal judge has sentenced a Bloomington couple to prison for having and conspiring to sell an illegal opioid drug called para-fluorofentanyl, a Schedule I analgesic.
Christina Noonan, 44, will spend close to six years in prison; her husband, 50-year-old Wesley Noonan, received a four-year sentence.
Prosecutors said they found a fentanyl analog in their home, marked as Adderall. But it was far from the only drug the Noonans sold through a phone app and sent by mail to all 50 states, charged authorities. A log in their home on East Taylor Street showed Christina Noonan, with her husband's help, mailed more than 1,750 parcels totaling more than a quarter million pills over 14 months in 2021 and 2022.
The court found Wesley Noonan had a minor role in the conspiracy.
The shipments included parcels logged as Tramadol, Zolpidem, Cathinone, Adderall, Lorazepam, Hydrocodone, Percocet, and other substances, said the U.S. Attorney’s office. Prosecutors said the Noonans had an overseas source of supply.
“This case demonstrates how illegal drug distribution is ever evolving,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald L. Hanna.
Federal and state authorities searched the couple's home on April 6, 2022. The Noonans pleaded guilty in August 2023.
Hanna said the case also shows why taking illegally obtained pills is extremely dangerous.
“An illegally obtained pill, often manufactured overseas, can appear to be one substance, like Adderall, and in fact be something very different and deadly like fentanyl,” she said.
Agencies involved in the case included: the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Diversion Unit that focuses on cases involving pharmaceutical-controlled substances diverted from the legal chain of commerce to the illegal drug market; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and Illinois State Police.
