Evansville man who sold fentanyl-laced pills on Snapchat sentenced to federal prison
An Evansville man accused of selling counterfeit prescription pills that police said caused three overdoses and killed a 19-year-old woman in 2022 was sentenced this month to 20 years in federal prison.
Jeremial Leach, 20, pleaded guilty to three felonies − distribution of fentanyl resulting in death, distribution of fentanyl and distribution of a controlled substance resulting in serious bodily injury.
As part of a plea agreement with federal prosecutor, two other charges were dropped.
Evansville police arrested Leach in October 2022 after a lengthy investigation allegedly connected Leach to a string of overdoses and led to the recovery of fentanyl, cash and weapons from his Shanklin Avenue residence.
But five days after Leach's initial arrest, Vanderburgh County prosecutors dismissed the local charges he faced after federal investigators expressed an interest in pursuing the case.
Prosecutors alleged that Leach used the alias "Mel" to sell fentanyl, cannabis and weapons via social media apps such as Snapchat, and cellphone data connected Leach to multiple overdose victims.
According to court records, Evansville Police Department detectives determined Leach's pills, which allegedly contained fentanyl, killed 19-year-old Elisabeth Duncan in June 2022. In the aftermath of her death, investigators compiled a trove of digital evidence from Duncan's phone and the phones of other overdose victims.
Leach also put himself on police radar through a series of brazen social media posts, according to court records.
Those posts led the Evansville-Vanderburgh County Drug Task Force to receive a tip pointing investigators to a Snapchat account run by the user "Mel30." Police said the account posted photos and videos depicting the sale of fentanyl pills, marijuana and firearms.
In the federal complaint drafted by DEA Special Agent Cordell Allen, Allen said law enforcement went "undercover" to observe the account's postings.
"The owner of the account occasionally posted 'stories' depicting his own face, allowing law enforcement to identify him as Jeremial Leach," the complaint states. "Law enforcement further identified Leach's public Facebook account, which displayed his name as 'Dblock Mel.'"
After reviewing extensive text message correspondence between Leach and his alleged customers, examining GPS location data and seizing counterfeit pills from vehicles observed leaving Leach's residence, police obtained authorization to execute a search warrant.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Jeremial Leach of Evansville sentenced to federal prison
