Bronx man, 72, convicted of supplying fentanyl to 74-year-old Maryland drug dealer

Age is just a number for a Bronx man convicted Monday of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.

The 72-year-old defendant, Valfonso Dewitt, was also convicted on two counts of using his cell phone to facilitate illegal drug distribution and acquitted on three other counts of the same charge, the Justice Department said.

Dewitt supplied fentanyl to Lanham, Maryland, drug dealer James Gaston, 74. Gaston and his wife Jacqueline Gaston, 52, both previously pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy.

From January 2019 to at least September 2019, Dewitt conspired with the Gastons and others to distribute fentanyl.

In September 2019, Dewitt gave almost a half-kilogram of pure fentanyl to Gaston, enough of the drug to kill 250,000 people, outside Memphis, Tennessee.

Law enforcement would bust the Gastons in a vehicle search during a traffic stop shortly after Gaston drove over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge on Interstate 495 from Virginia to Prince George’s County, Maryland.