22-year-old Perry man sentenced to 50 years for trafficking fentanyl

Prosecutors say the case involved large amounts of fentanyl and multiple firearms.

HOUSTON COUNTY, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A Perry man received a 50-year sentence after pleading guilty to trafficking fentanyl in two separate cases.

According to a news release from the Houston County District Attorney’s office, 22-year-old Peyton Kyle Thompson entered guilty pleas January 5 in Houston County Superior Court. In one case, Thompson pleaded guilty to trafficking fentanyl and four counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony stemming from a February 7, 2025 arrest. In a separate case from October 2024, Thompson pleaded guilty to the sale of fentanyl.

Thompson was sentenced to a total of 50 years, with the first 15 years to be served in prison and the remaining years on probation. The sentence also includes a $100,000 fine, according to the district attorney’s office.

The district attorney’s office said the case began with a months-long investigation by the Warner Robins Police Department Narcotics Intelligence Unit, working alongside the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Georgia State Patrol, the Houston County Sheriff’s Office and the Perry Police Department.

According to the release, investigators learned Thompson was selling large amounts of fentanyl from his home on North Lake Drive in Perry. Prosecutors said confidential informants conducted controlled purchases of fentanyl, which led to an arrest warrant for an October 17, 2024 transaction and probable cause for a search warrant.

Investigators executed the arrest and search warrants at Thompson’s home on February 7, 2025. Prosecutors said Thompson and his girlfriend were taken into custody and investigators recovered more than 14 grams of fentanyl, packaging materials and multiple firearms.

“Fentanyl is not an abstract problem—it is killing people in our community,” District Attorney Eric Edwards said. “When someone chooses to traffic and sell this drug, they are gambling with human life on a massive scale.”

The release said Houston County has been riddled with drug overdose deaths in recent years and said that, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency, two milligrams of fentanyl can kill the average person, meaning that “the amount of fentanyl seized just in Thompson’s possession during the execution of the search warrant had the potential to have killed up to 7,000 Houston County residents.”