RICHLAND COUNTY, Ohio — Police in Richland County sent out a public safety announcement after learning that the Oxycodone seized following an investigation earlier in the month turned out to be a large amount of fentanyl.
On Sept. 9, the Ontario Police Department announced the seizure of more than 1,500 pills, which they initially identified as Oxycodone.
Amid the investigation, police said a 35-year-old Kentucky man was arrested and a stolen vehicle was recovered. Officers also seized suspected meth from a subsequent search.
In an update posted on Wednesday, police said lab testing of the pills revealed they were fentanyl disguised as Oxycodone.
"The total amount of Fentanyl in all pills combined is in excess of 118,000,000 micrograms," the police department said. "The lethal dosage of Fentanyl can be as small as 700 micrograms. Doing the math, these pills could have resulted in over 168,500 deaths."
Ontario police then compared the pills seized to a picture of a pharmaceutical manufactured Oxycodone pill — both pink pills with letters and numbers — saying, "you cannot tell a difference."
