A jury is deliberating in the case of a Utah man accused of running a multimillion-dollar opioid ring that shipped fake prescription drugs across the country, causing at least one fatal overdose.
Prosecutors said during closing arguments Thursday that Aaron Shamo’s operation helped fuel the nation’s opioid epidemic by making hundreds of thousands of pills available to addicts and other users.
They said $1 million was found in his dresser.
Defense attorneys say Shamo wasn’t a kingpin, just a “dummy” who was desperate to make friends and ended up taking blame for the operation.
Shamo testified that he convinced himself that he was helping people who needed the drugs while making money for himself and his friends.
Shamo is charged with operating a criminal enterprise, selling drugs that caused a death and other counts.
