Brainerd Man Pleads Guilty to Possession with Intent to Distribute 1,000s of Fentanyl Pills

Dazaughn Ellis West (Credit: Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office)

A 28-year-old Brainerd man has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to possession with intent to distribute thousands of fentanyl pills.

The U.S. Attorney’s office says Dazaughn Ellis West pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. He will be sentenced at a later date.

According to court documents, on August 1st, 2023, law enforcement executed a search warrant at a storage unit in Brainerd that belonged to West. Inside the unit, officers found between 13,000 and 15,000 pressed fentanyl pills, weighing approximately 2.8 pounds in total.

Law enforcement also executed a search warrant at West’s home in Brainerd, where they found an additional 150 grams of fentanyl pills, a loaded semi-automatic pistol, a .22 caliber rifler, and distributable quantities of cocaine.

West’s co-defendant, Devaughn Ellis West, is scheduled to plead guilty on August 19th.