A federal jury found Friday that Aaron Shamo was the kingpin of a multimillion-dollar pill-pressing operation, sealing the fate for the 29-year-old Cottonwood Heights man.
The jury deliberated for nine hours over two days before finding Shamo guilty of 12 charges connected to an opioid ring he ran out his basement that pumped more than half a million fentanyl-laced pills across the country.
That included a guilty verdict on the heftiest charge — running a “continuing criminal enterprise” — which carries a mandatory life sentence. The jury was hung on one count where prosecutors accused Shamo of causing a 21-year-old California man’s overdose death.