Lynchburg drug dealer who ran fentanyl operation from jail gets 21 years

A Lynchburg drug dealer, with balls of steel, used friends and family members to traffic tens of thousands of pressed fentanyl pills while he was incarcerated at the Lynchburg Adult Detention Center awaiting trial on gang and firearm charges.

Tremon Jaquil Burford, 31, was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison in the case.

According to court documents, Burford used a network of co-conspirators outside of the jail – predominantly women with little to no criminal history, including his own relatives – in his trafficking operation.

The co-conspirators held controlled substances and money for him, communicated with suppliers and customers, and delivered drugs and drug proceeds at Burford’s direction.

Burford pleaded guilty in the case on July 10, 2025, and still continued the criminal activity. On Sept. 8, 2025, he slipped a corrections officer a note offering him $2,500 to smuggle Suboxone strips into the jail.