Maurice B. Stewart, a 41-year-old resident of Cincinnati, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for distributing fentanyl. The sentence was handed down by the U.S. District Court following an investigation conducted by the Mason Police Department and the Heroin Coalition Task Force.
Court documents reveal that Stewart, also known as "Reese" and "Suave," worked as a chef in various Cincinnati restaurants. He reportedly used his position to sell blue pills purported to be Percocet to coworkers and customers. These pills were later found to contain fentanyl.
An incident on September 18, 2022, highlighted the danger of these transactions when Stewart sold three pills for $60 at the Westin Hotel in downtown Cincinnati. The buyer was later found unresponsive by his mother and pronounced dead at the scene due to a fatal fentanyl overdose. A toxicology report confirmed the presence of fentanyl in his system.
Stewart was indicted by a federal grand jury in January 2023 and pled guilty in July 2024. His sentencing was announced by Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Andrew Lawton, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the DEA's Detroit office; along with officials from the Mason Police Department and the Heroin Coalition Task Force.
Assistant United States Attorneys David P. Dornette and Timothy D. Oakley are handling the case for the prosecution.
This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation aimed at dismantling high-level drug traffickers and criminal networks through a collaborative effort involving multiple law enforcement agencies.