Daniel Taylor (Lubbock County), Texas Tech campus (GettyImages)
LUBBOCK, Texas – A former assistant professor at Texas Tech University who manufactured and distributed fentanyl, including a custom-blended drug mixture branded as “pink flamingo,” was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison, federal officials announced.
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Former professor sentenced to 40 years
What we know:
Daniel Taylor, 51, of Lubbock, was sentenced to a 480-month prison term by U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix. Taylor pleaded guilty on July 1 to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl.
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Ex-Texas Tech professor admits to running fentanyl ring, trading drugs for sex, documents say
Former Texas Tech assistant professor Daniel Taylor pleaded guilty to running a sophisticated fentanyl network that traded drugs for sex and caused eight overdoses.
Pink Flamingo fentanyl
Taylor was an assistant professor of supply chain management at Texas Tech’s Rawls College of Business when he began distributing fentanyl powder throughout the Lubbock area. Prosecutors said Taylor used his professional background and expertise in supply chain logistics to advance his drug trafficking network.
The backstory:
According to court filings and official statements, Taylor produced two primary fentanyl formulations: a potent white powder known on the street as “ghost,” and a pink mixture dubbed “pink flamingo,” created by combining fentanyl with bromazolam, a designer benzodiazepine, and red food coloring. Taylor packaged the pink powder using heat-sealed envelopes and decorated them with flamingo-branded stickers and keychains.
Investigators revealed that Taylor provided fentanyl powder to multiple women in exchange for sex, referring to them in messages as his “flamingos”. Several women suffered overdoses after consuming the narcotics, including at least one who required multiple doses of Narcan inside Taylor’s home. Court records also show Taylor instructed associates to transition drug-related communications to encrypted messaging applications such as Signal and routinely delete message threads.
Federal authorities launched an investigation into Taylor in 2025. In January 2026, law enforcement agents surveilled Taylor meeting with a distributor in a convenience store parking lot shortly before a passenger in the distributor’s vehicle suffered a life-threatening overdose that required emergency hospital intubation.
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Sign hanging in Taylor’s kitchen area (Source: Factual resume from the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas)
Subsequent court-authorized searches of Taylor’s vehicle and 102nd Street residence uncovered a commercial-grade packaging and heat-sealing station, pink envelopes, flamingo stickers, and a handwritten recipe detailing the ratios for the “pink flamingo” mixture. Agents also seized quantities of fentanyl, bromazolam, methamphetamine, cocaine base, ketamine, MDMA, and multiple doses of Narcan.
Court records indicate Taylor has a prior federal felony conviction and was previously court-martialled after using fraudulent documents and attempting to fake his own death.
What they’re saying:
“Daniel Taylor earned every year of his 40-year sentence,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould for the Northern District of Texas. “Taylor targeted and preyed on vulnerable women, enlisted some of them to help his drug supply chain, branded his poison as if it were a product sold off a shelf and showed a shocking disregard for human life.”
“Daniel Taylor exploited his position of trust and education to engage in the distribution of one of the deadliest drugs threatening our communities,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Joseph B. Tucker. “While he should have been helping shape the futures of young Americans, he was instead distributing a deadly poison that has devastated families across this country.”
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