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A federal judge sentenced a Lynbrook man on Wednesday to more than two decades in federal prison for selling fentanyl that led to the fatal overdose of a retired police officer.
Ryan Mueller, 33, received a 22-year prison term in U.S. District Court in Central Islip after pleading guilty last year to distributing fentanyl causing death. Prosecutors said Mueller supplied a fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pill that killed the 49-year-old retired cop in December 2022.
Authorities said Mueller stockpiled millions of counterfeit pills and huge quantities of fentanyl inside his home.
“Mueller operated a massive and deadly fentanyl scheme,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella, Jr. said. “He built vending-machine-sized pill presses, possessed kilos of fentanyl and millions of fake and deadly pharmaceutical pills, and sold the fentanyl that led to the tragic loss of life of a retired police officer.”
At Mueller’s home, law enforcement seized several kilograms of fentanyl, as well as firearms. Further authorities confiscated roughly 3.4 million counterfeit pills linked to Mueller — including fake oxycodone, Xanax and Quaaludes — along with another 600 grams of fentanyl in brick form.
Officials described it as one of the largest pill seizures in the history of the DEA’s New York Division.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 80,400 people in the United States died from drug overdoses in 2024, with about 48,400 of those deaths involving synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.
While overall overdose fatalities dropped from 2023, fentanyl remained a leading driver of the crisis.
Top: Main photo of narcotics confiscated by authorities (courtesy photo), inset photo of federal courthouse in Central Islip (Google Maps).
