A Long Island man was sentenced to 22 years in prison for selling fentanyl that killed a former police officer, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.
Ryan Mueller, 33, of Lynbrook, pleaded guilty last December to one count of distribution of fentanyl causing death, the feds said.
“Ryan Mueller’s decision to make and distribute fentanyl laced [counterfeit] pills resulted in the death of an unsuspecting user who thought he was taking a legitimate pharmaceutical pill,” DEA agent Frank Tarentino said in a press release.
The victim has been identified as a 49-year-old former cop who was found dead at his home in Elmont in December 2022. Mueller was arrested in April 2024, and investigators said he was operating a massive drug distribution operation.
In the deadly case in Elmont, the fentanyl that killed the ex-cop was pressed into a pill meant to appear as oxycodone, the feds said. When agents raided Mueller’s residence, they found a pill press, “several kilos of fentanyl” and other drugs including heroin, cocaine and oxycodone.
“Mueller operated a massive and deadly fentanyl scheme,” Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella said. “He built vending-machine-sized pill presses, possessed kilos of fentanyl and millions of fake and deadly pharmaceutical pills.”
In February 2025, the feds raided a building tied to Mueller and found “approximately 3.4 million fake pharmaceutical pills, including fake oxycodone that contained fentanyl, fake Xanax pills, over 300,000 Quaalude pills and another approximately 600 grams of fentanyl in brick form,” the Justice Department said.
