DEA says Louisville drug bust turned over more than 15 pounds of fentanyl

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A Louisville man was arrested last week after federal agents found 7,000 grams of fentanyl in his home.

Police arrested 35-year-old Darrell Malone on May 7 following a search last week, led by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, at a home near 45th Street and Garland Avenue in Louisville's Chickasaw neighborhood, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky.

During the search, agents said they recovered more than 7,000 grams — about 15 pounds — of suspected fentanyl, along with ecstasy pills, cash and equipment used to package narcotics. Authorities also seized three handguns, including one that was reported stolen.

"This is a career offender," Jim Scott, special agent of the DEA's Louisville Field Division, said Friday. "(That) represents about 3 million potentially deadly doses."

Scott said trends in the streets are changing fast. They're seeing fewer fake pill seizures and more fentanyl powder, meaning traffickers are likely pressing their own pills.

"We've had multiple investigations where we have seized pill pressers industrial sized pill pressers, where they can punch out thousands of pills every hour and then push those out onto the street," Scott said. "And these are pills that look exactly like the pill that you might get from your doctor or your pharmacy. You couldn't tell the difference between a fake hydrocodone and a real hydrocodone if I showed you."

In 2025, fentanyl was present in 45.4% of all overdose deaths in Kentucky. That was actually down from 62.3% in 2024 and 79% in 2023.

If convicted, Malone faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison and could receive life behind bars.