MORGANTOWN – William Ihlenfeld, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia, has been elected to chair the Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Executive Board.
HIDTA is composed of drug task forces from Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, Ihlenfeld said in a phone interview, and will be specially targeting fentanyl trafficking.
Fentanyl is killing more people than any other illicit substance, he said, with overdose deaths increasing significantly because of the amount being trafficked.
“Every quantity of fentanyl that we can interdict, we have the potential to save a life,” he said. The equivalent of a couple grains of salt is enough to kill someone. “We have to work harder and faster than ever before to interdict the fentanyl.” They will prosecute cases, but the primary goal is to keep it from hitting the streets.
A release announcing Ihlenfeld’s election said fentanyl is now the leading cause of death in those ages 18-45 in the United States, according to the CDC. The Northern District of West Virginia has seen fentanyl-related overdose deaths more than double, and the amount seized in the district in the last year was enough to kill nearly half its population.
China and Mexico are the primary sources of illegal fentanyl, Ihlenfeld said, with precursor chemicals often coming from China, getting formulated in Mexico and pushed across border. It flows to source cities such as Detroit, Columbus, Pittsburgh and Baltimore, then down to smaller communities.
Interdiction requires multistate cooperation, he said. “If we’re not talking to our friends in Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, then we’re going to miss a lot of the intelligence that’s available.”
HIDTA is coordinated by the U.S. DEA, he said, and provides funding and equipment. “But the intel resources are what get me more excited than anything.” Experts at the London, Ky., base work behind the scenes to monitor trends, seizures, cell phone information gathered through investigations, among other things.
Ihlenfeld previously served as U.S. attorney under the Obama administration, then spent some time in the state Senate, being elected in 2018. He returned to his U.S. attorney post last October.
Since his first stint, he said, then means of consuming fentanyl has changed. It was frequently cut into heroin in the past, but now they are seeing it mixed into other substances, such as cocaine, along with appearing in standalone form, such as pills.
Appalachia HIDTA Executive Director Vic Brown said in the release, “United States Attorney Ihlenfeld is a highly respected law enforcement professional, and his leadership and expertise will be of tremendous benefit to the Appalachia HIDTA Executive Board.”
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