Overview
- Kevin Chase McCauley of Saginaw was sentenced to 210 months in federal prison on Monday, July 20, 2026, after a judge imposed a term of more than 17 years.
- McCauley pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl in the case brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas.
- Federal and local investigators tied the charges to a March 8, 2023 death in Argyle when deputies found a person who died after taking counterfeit hydrocodone pills that contained fentanyl and had been sold by McCauley.
- The case was investigated and prosecuted as part of a Homeland Security Task Force initiative called Protecting the American People Against Invasion that targets cartels, foreign gangs and transnational criminal networks.
- Officials say the sentence illustrates how prosecutors are treating suppliers of fentanyl‑laced counterfeit pills as both criminal and public‑health threats and could lead to more task‑force prosecutions and public warnings about counterfeit pills.