Christopher Bass, of St. Francis, Minnesota, was sentenced to twenty years in federal prison for selling pills laced with fentanyl that led to the death of a University of Alabama Professor. Prosecutors say Bass received orders over the internet for counterfeit narcotics, and then illegally used the U.S. Postal Service to conceal those shipments. UA Professor Louis Burgio received counterfeit pills in Tuscaloosa in 2022, not knowing that they contained fentanyl. Prosecutors say the professor died as a result.
Agents searched Bass’ home in Minnesota after Burgio’s death, where they seized counterfeit pills, fentanyl, packaging material, and spreadsheets containing customer addresses, Postal Service tracking numbers, as well as the pricing and quantities of each order. The case was investigated by the Tuscaloosa Police Department, the Tuscaloosa County Violent Crimes Unit, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Birmingham, the East Central Drug Task Force, and in Minnesota by the Anoka-Hennepin Narcotics and Violent Crimes Task Force.
Burgio’s widow Rebecca Sue Allen read her victim’s impact statement aloud to Bass in court, which stated, in part…
“Every time he blocked a number your bosses would contact him again from a new number with a new special on illegal drugs. And when Lou developed new neuropathic pain in his left leg, his daughter Emily, a nurse practitioner, thought it might be a clot. With the pain and your weekly specials, Lou stumbled in his battle with addiction. And he fell and ordered from you once again – and you chose to distribute the Xanax pills laced with fentanyl. He ordered the Xanax. But you chose to roll the Xanax in fentanyl.”
Allen went onto say…
“I don’t hate you. I believe, as with each of us, that you must acknowledge and face the consequences of your choices. Each of us is born into different levels of adversity. We grow in our environments, and we learn. We have predispositions to certain endings. However, we do have choices. And it is the choices we make that define us. Lou Burgio made it out of the West Side of Buffalo and his work gave light to millions of caregivers for people with dementia. May your behavior while incarcerated for your prior choices that ended the life of my wonderful Lou bring you and others light. You have a new opportunity, across the next almost 20 years, to make a difference and live a meaningful life. I urge you to choose it. Through your behavior now and in the future, you could BE the change we all need to see in this world.”
UA’s Board of Trustees recognized Louis Burgio in 2004 as the University’s Distinguished Research Professor for his work in the Applied Gerontology Program. The honor is considered the highest the board can bestow upon a faculty member at the University.
Bass pleaded guilty to distributing fentanyl which resulted in Burgio’s death, back in August.
