Members of multimillion-dollar US opioid drug ring sentenced: What you need to know

Picture courtesy : Associated press

· A multimillion-dollar online opioid drug ring ended as a group of millennials who helped run the dark-web operation based in Salt Lake City were sentenced to prison.

· Drew Crandall helped start the operation which eventually grew to ship tens of thousands of fake pills laced with the deadly opioid fentanyl to people nationwide in 2016 led to multiple overdose deaths.

· He pleaded guilty to drug distribution and money laundering charges and was sentenced to four and a half years in federal prison.

· Some people found the punishment far too light as they had lost their young dear ones after buying counterfeit oxycodone from the dark web storefront called Pharma-Master.

· Crandall has testified that the operation started small when he needed cash for students loans, so he let his roommate Aaron Shamo sell his prescription Adderall. Crandall said he scaled back his role before Shamo began selling fentanyl.

· In 2016 bust at Shamo's home ranked among the largest in the country as more than $1 million was found in his dresser, according to court documents.

· Crandall agreed to a plea deal and testified against Shamo, who was convicted of 12 counts and sentenced to life in prison.

· Two women who packaged the drugs and put together shipments got three years in prison while a' runner' hired to pick up dozens of packages a day and drop them in the mail was sentenced to two years. A gym friend of Shamo's who helped press pills got five years.