On October 27, 2025, Patrick Small, 45, of Fredericksburg was sentenced in Stafford Circuit Court to forty years in prison, with twenty years to serve.

Small previously pled guilty to two counts of possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance, second offense.

The case resulted from an investigation by the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Unit following the overdose death of a Stafford County resident. Detectives determined that Small had recently distributed narcotics to the victim just prior to the fatal overdose.

Later in the investigation, the Stafford County SWAT team executed a traffic stop on Small. During the stop investigators recovered approximately ninety Fentanyl pills and a quantity of Xylazine. Small was charged with distribution or Fentanyl, distribution of Fentanyl as a weapon of terror, possession of Heroin, and possession of Xylazine.