St. Paul man receives over 10 years for fentanyl trafficking, gun violations

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - A St. Paul man was sentenced in federal court on Friday for his involvement in a fentanyl drug trafficking ring in the Twin Cities, according to the Department of Justice. 

Keonee Nasier Shaffer-Frazier, 23, was sentenced to 144 months (12 years), followed by five years of supervised release for fentanyl trafficking and illegally possessing a firearm. 

According to court records, Shaffer-Frazier was involved in a drug trafficking ring from 2021 to 2022 that obtained fentanyl pills from out of state and distributed them across the Twin Cities. 

In March 2022, law enforcement executed a search warrant and recovered approximately 57,000 fentanyl pills and $83,000 from Shaffer-Frazier and his co-conspirators, charges said. He was arrested but released on bail. Shaffer-Frazier was arrested again in September 2022, where authorities recovered a semi-automatic firearm, which he was not allowed to possess, given a prior felony conviction.  

Shaffer-Frazier pleaded guilty in February to one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and a separate count of possessing a firearm as a felon. He was sentenced in court on Friday.