
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Stillwater ex-convict has been given a 10-year prison term for possessing 11 grams of fentanyl — which is 11 times the amount required for trafficking the drug.
Michael Lynn Rush, 47, who has a criminal record in four counties, pleaded guilty to the aggravated drug trafficking charge, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, to Payne County District Judge Phillip Corley on Dec. 8, court records show.
Rush had been arrested at 3:39 pm on Nov. 8, 2022, about 38 minutes after a traffic stop at 6th and Stallard, Stillwater Police Detective Brett Moore wrote in an affidavit.
“Michael appeared extremely nervous as he was excessively sweating and breathing rapidly. Detective Carson and I had our ballistic vests on and were not sweating.
“For the last several months, I have received information from numerous confidential informants that Michael was actively distributing pressed fentanyl pills. I informed Michael that I was detaining his vehicle for a K9 to respond,” Detective Moore wrote in his affidavit.
After a K9 responded, “Detective Carson and I began searching the vehicle and located half a pill in the passenger seat of Michael’s vehicle. The pill was round and blue in color. The pill had partial imprints of M30. The pill did not appear factory-pressed, as the markings were distorted, and the pill was flaky.
“Through my training and experience, I know these pills are often pressed with fentanyl. Michael denied knowing the pill was inside his vehicle,” the detective wrote in his affidavit.
After Rush was arrested, a Payne County judge issued a search warrant for his residence at which 11 grams of round blue fentanyl pressed pills were found in a balloon-style package, the affidavit said.
“Along with the pills, we located an amount of methamphetamine and paraphernalia,” the detective wrote in his affidavit. Rush was given concurrent one-year jail terms for possessing methamphetamine and driving under suspension, court records show.
In a jail interview, “Michael admitted to knowing the pills were inside his room and stated he was helping a friend out,” the affidavit said.
According to the state Department of Corrections, Rush had previously been convicted of methamphetamine trafficking and possession in two cases in Stillwater in 2016 for which he served less than half of two concurrent 10-year sentences. Rush also had been convicted of drug possession in Logan County in 2014, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in Custer County in 2008, and domestic abuse in Beckham County in 2005.