Akron businessman works to make fentanyl weapon of mass destruction after son's death

Jim Rauh may not collect an $18 million judgment against the Chinese drug trafficking organization that he says caused his son's death, but that isn't stopping his campaign to have fentanyl declared a weapon of mass destruction.

Rauh, an Akron businessman who founded the nonprofit Families Against Fentanyl, filed a civil complaint in 2020 against a group of Chinese nationals and businesses that local law enforcement and federal investigations found supplied the drug that killed his son.

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In May, after the none of the defendants appeared in court, Summit County Common Pleas Court Judge Kathryn Michael issued a default judgement in Rauh's favor.

"Moving forward, now I'm pushing for (fentanyl) to be classified as a weapon of mass destruction so we can put together the right forces to stop the material from coming into the United States, "Rauh said. "We need to put an all-of-government approach to stopping this."

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In referring to the drug as a chemical warfare agent, Rauh said fentanyl has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans since his son suffered a fatal overdose in 2015.

About 20,000 in Ohio have died from fentanyl since 2016, and more than 70,000 people across the nation died of synthetic opioids in 2021 alone. CDC data shows more than 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses, mainly fentanyl, in 2022.

Although fentanyl is used legally to treat pain caused by trauma, surgery or long-term conditions such as cancer, Rauh and some senior government officials are also afraid fentanyl can be used to kill thousands of people at once.

As little as 2 milligrams of fentanyl − equivalent to a few dozen grains of salt − can be fatal. Carfentanyl, an analog of fentanyl, is 100 times more potent. A gram of fentanyl can kill hundreds. Carfentanyl can kill even more.

Rauh has been pushing for the weapon of mass destruction designation since 2021, when he outlined those concerns in a letter to President Joe Biden and convinced some high-profile experts to sign on. Among those signing were former CIA Director John O. Brennan and former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, the first Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

"U.S. policy toward illicit fentanyls cannot be based solely on the intent of drug traffickers," the letter states. "The entire federal government must acknowledge the risk that DOD has already recognized — fentanyls pose a substantial threat as Weapons of Mass Destruction used by foreign or domestic terrorists."

The letter was referring to a memorandum reported on in 2019 by the online military news outlet Task & Purpose. In the memorandum, a Department of Homeland Security official proposes using homeland security assets to combat fentanyl and states other federal agencies have considered the drug a WMD threat.

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In the letter to Biden, Rauh repeats the warning.

"The significant presence of illicitly manufactured fentanyls in our cities and neighborhoods places all of us in danger. These chemicals have the capacity for wide-scale devastation when distributed through our air, water systems, or other methods," Rauh's letter states.

Last September, attorneys general from 18 states delivered a similar letter to the president, stating a WMD declaration would require the Department of Homeland Security and Drug Enforcement Agency to coordinate with other agencies in an all-out effort to fight the import and distribution of fentanyl.

And in May, U.S. Reps. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), Tony Gonzales (R-TX), and Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) introduced the Stop Our Scourge Act of 2023 to designate illicit fentanyl entering the United States from foreign countries as a weapon of mass destruction. Other members of Congress have previously introduced similar resolutions, including former U.S. Rep Tim Ryan (D-OH).

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Rauh's civil complaint followed a federal investigation that was sparked by the death of his son Tommy Rauh, 37, who became addicted to painkillers after being prescribed opioids by a doctor following a rollerblading accident. Like many others at the time, Tommy Rauh eventually moved on to heroin and battled addiction for 10 years until he died in March 2015 after injecting fentanyl.

Raugh said he first realized how dangerous fentanyl can be after the county medical examiner told him that his son had overdosed before he could finish injecting the drug and that he had been in possession of enough fentanyl to kill "hundreds of people."

The resulting criminal investigation into the drug dealer who supplied Tommy Rauh with fentanyl, and a subsequent federal investigation, uncovered a Chinese organization that came to be identified in court papers as the Zheng Drug Trafficking Organization.

The Zheng DTO includes Shanghai members of a family surnamed Zheng, and the companies Qinsheng Pharmaceutical Technology Co. LTD., and Global United Biotechnology, Inc. It advertised hundreds of drugs for sale, including custom-made analogs meant to avoid detection and legal restrictions.

According to court documents, Akron resident Leroy Shuarod Steele purchased fentanyl from the Zheng DTO, which at the time was selling the drug for $860 per 100 grams, $3,600 for 500 grams and even offered a kilogram of fentanyl for $6,800. It would then take payment electronically and ship the product via U.S. Mail.

Steele was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

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The Zheng group was charged in the U.S. District Court in Cleveland, but the case was dismissed after they failed to appear for trial. Members of the Zheng DTO were then sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. The sanctions mean the Zheng's property in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and reported to Treasury officials.

Rauh said he believes the government is in the process of seeking those assets both in the United States and in Mexico, where a Drug Enforcement Administration report says precursor chemicals are shipped from China for final synthesis by drug cartels, who then smuggle the product north.

The U.S. government brought charges against the Zheng DTO to China, without success, as reported in a 2019 episode of the television news program "60 Minutes," "Deadly fentanyl bought online from China being shipped through the mail." The segment featured an interview with Rauh and others, including former U.S. Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio.

Other local fentanyl dealers caught

Steele was not the only person buying fentanyl from China at the time.

Donte and Audrey Gibson, an Akron couple busted in 2017, ran a thriving drug business courtesy of Chinese mail-order suppliers until they and accomplices including family members were arrested in 2018.

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Authorities started investigating the two in 2016, the year carfentanyl arrived in the area. Though it was suspected of causing 236 overdoses in three weeks, including 14 deaths, the Gibsons were not linked to the increases.

However, the Gibson's 6-year-old daughter overdosed and was revived by Narcan. It is believed the girl was poisoned through contact with drugs that had spilled on the floor at home.

The Gibsons got rich, and were found to have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, including $700,000 on luxury goods, in just a couple years.

Donte Gibson got a 25-year sentence and was later busted for smuggling and selling heroin in prison. Audrey Gibson was sentenced to 10 years and 8 months in prison.

The Zheng DTO is not the only supplier of fentanyl and related drugs into the United States. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Cronin told 60 Minutes that federal investigators found dozens of Chinese suppliers online when they started investigating the death of Tommy Rauh, and that of another Akron resident, 23-year-old Carrie Dobbins.

Ryan Sumlin, 29, was sentenced to life in prison for Dobbins death after it was found he had been mixing fentanyl from China with heroin he was selling to customers. He had 220 grams of fentanyl in his home when arrested − enough to kill more than 100,000 people.

Facing son's addiction first-hand

Rauh described his son's experience with addiction as someone who can't objectively ask themselves, "should I do this or not?"

"(The addiction) becomes more than your desire to eat, more than your your need for water," Rauh said. "It doesn't leave you alone, even when you've recovered."

He said that's what happens when people relapse — that desire comes back when the person is dealing with anything that causes them anxiety or stress that makes them want to escape.

Nobody who uses illegal drugs is safe today, Rauh said, as fentanyl is being added to other street drugs, including cocaine and counterfeit prescription pills made with illegal pill pressing machines.

Fentanyl now comes from Mexican cartels, with the help of Chinese drug traffickers, he said.

"This is something that needs to be stopped," he said. "There's no $18 million that I know of anywhere, but if I ever find the $18 million, I'm gonna use it to fight against these evil people."

Amanda Garrett contributed to this report. Eric Marotta can be reached at emarotta@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarottaEric.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron man works to make fentanyl labeled as weapon of mass destruction