Man Admits to Shipping Counterfeit Pills That Killed Distinguished UA Professor

A Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to shipping counterfeit pills that secretly contained fentanyl to a Tuscaloosa doctor and highly lauded University of Alabama professor who fatally overdosed after taking them in 2022.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Alabama, fentanyl killed Tuscaloosa's Dr Louis Burgio in August 2022.

Burgio was a gerontologist and a Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Alabama, which is the highest honor it gives faculty members. 

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An investigation turned up pills labeled as the painkiller Oxycontin but were counterfeits which, unbeknownst to Burgio, contained the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl, which is stronger by far than morphine.

Police also found USPS Priority Mail packaging which led them to a suspect in Minnesota, 46-year-old Christopher Louis Bass.

Ultimately, police searched Bass' home in St. Francis and reportedly discovered more counterfeit pills, the fentanyl he allegedly included in them, and packaging materials.

A forensic search of his phone also yielded spreadsheets where he tracked customers, their addresses, the weight and quantity of their orders, pricing, and USPS tracking numbers.

The evidence was enough for the  U.S. Postal Inspection Service and  Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Kirk to charge Bass with distributing fentanyl which resulted in a death.

According to the DOJ press release, Bass pleaded guilty to the charge last Tuesday.

Bass is scheduled to be sentenced before U.S. District Judge L. Scott Coogler in December.