Wearing an orange jumpsuit, face mask and shackles, escorted by two U.S. Marshals, Colin Shapard entered a federal courtroom Thursday afternoon.
He had been formally charged the day before with six drug-related offenses, including distribution of a controlled substance resulting in serious bodily injury.
When Magistrate Judge Jared Bennett asked him for a plea, Shapard nodded his head and paused for several seconds.
“I plead not guilty,” Shapard said.
Shapard, 21, is alleged to have sent scores of opiate pills to the Park City area in recent months, including some that were used in a non-fatal overdose in February. He faces six felony counts and the possibility of life imprisonment.
Shapard is also accused of distributing the drugs that resulted in the deaths of two 13-year-old Park City boys in 2016, though he does not face charges related to that episode.
Michael Gadd, a special assistant United States Attorney, argued that Shapard should remain in custody. He focused on the allegation that Shapard manufactured pills using fentanyl — an extremely potent synthetic opioid — and purposely disguised them to look like pharmaceutical oxycodone pills.
Gadd said distributing fentanyl is bad, but disguising it to look like medication is worse. The prosecutor accused Shapard of greed and callousness, and called him inhumane.
“How many times,” Gadd asked, “should a school district have to warn its parents that deadly opiates have been released into the school system?”
Shapard at times shook his head when the prosecutor was speaking.
Federal Public Defender Tessa Hansen submitted to the prosecution's motion that Shapard remain detained. Hansen said some of the events Gadd referenced happened when Shapard was a child. She said she did not accept the version of events put forward by the government and would continue to investigate them to prepare a robust defense.
“Things are not always as they initially appear,” she said.
Bennett ordered Shapard held in custody until the resolution of the case. The parties are scheduled to meet next in court at the end of May.
