A Billings man pleaded not guilty earlier this week to accusations of dealing meth and fentanyl and large quantities.

Benjamin Joseph Poole, 38, is currently in custody on a six-figure bond after police allegedly found him in possession of thousands of pills suspected to contain the synthetic opioid fentanyl. His arrest followed a coordinated effort on the part of the Billings Police Department and its federal partners.

Poole, according to court documents, was supplied with drugs through a Mexican drug cartel and an associate of Poole’s is alleged to have claimed the two “had enough drugs in Billings to get all of Billings high.”

On Aug. 11, officers with the BPD’s Street Crimes Unit stopped Poole in Billings while he was at the wheel of a Pontiac Grand Prix. Officers allegedly seized a

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