Video: Dealer hands drugs to line of customers 'like McDonald's'

Michael Chandler sold the synthetic opiate fentanyl, which is lethal in small doses, to users in Cincinnati.

A videorecording obtained by The Enquirer shows Chandler handing out packets of unidentified drugs to users who had lined up in their vehicles on an Avondale street. 

The five transactions in the video, shot on Chandler's own cellphone, happen in daylight. It's "like McDonald's," he says.

In each drug deal, Chandler pulls a packet from his stocking cap, reaches out the driver's side window of his car with his left hand, and in one motion takes cash and gives a packet to a customer.

More:Documents: Cincinnati fentanyl dealer said he was 'like McDonald's'

At one point, he accidentally drives past one vehicle. 

"Hey!" someone yells.

Chandler backs up and completes the transaction.

The next customer, a woman, smiles and says, "Can't drive today?"

Chandler chuckles.

In April 2016, court documents say Chandler sold fentanyl to a 17-year-old from Campbell County. The teen overdosed, and Chandler was arrested two months later.

That is the only death connected to Chandler, who was sentenced this week to more than 16 years in prison. But the federal prosecutor who handled the case said anyone who uses fentanyl or heroin is risking their life.

"They're playing Russian roulette," Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker said in an interview. 

Parker also said dealers are playing Russian roulette with their freedom because they face long prison sentences. 

There were 403 overdose deaths in 2016, the year of Chandler's arrest, and more than that by mid-September of this year. Officials say the vast majority of overdose deaths are due to fentanyl or chemically similar drugs.

The routine nature of the transactions is apparent in Chandler's self-shot video, which ends with him looking at the camera and smiling.

"It was one of the most appalling things I’ve seen in my nearly 20-year career," Parker said.