Garner man sentenced for supplying drugs that killed 22-year-old woman in 2017
Seven years after a 22-year-old woman died from a drug overdose, the man who supplied the drugs that killed her was sentenced to prison.
Reginald Webb, 33, of Garner will spend the next 16 1/2 years in federal prison for distributing heroin and fentanyl in the Raleigh area.
Webb was the source of the fentanyl distributed to the young woman, who overdosed twice on drugs he supplied within two days, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release. The second overdose was fatal. The woman was not identified in the release.
Webb pleaded guilty in January, while two of his co-defendants, Amanda McLeod and Treveris Coward, pleaded guilty in 2021 and 2022 for distributing a quantity of fentanyl to the woman who died. They are both waiting for sentencing.
Two overdoses in two days
On April 10, 2017, the woman suffered a non-fatal drug overdose after taking drugs laced with fentanyl, distributed by McLeod and sourced by Webb, the department said.
McLeod contacted Coward and Webb to revive the woman.
The next day, court documents show, the woman bought heroin from McLeod. She withdrew money from a Food Lion and got into a car driven by McLeod and accompanied by Coward, the department said.
Raleigh police responded to a call that day for a suspected overdose death an found the woman. An investigation found Webb was the source behind the fatal drugs.
The investigation uncovered another case from 2016 where a young man suffered a non-fatal overdose and identified Webb as his supplier, the release stated. In addition, a confidential informant bought heroin from Webb in 2015.
Webb was arrested in March of 2017 after a traffic stop in Duplin County, in which 18 bindles of heroin found in his underwear. Bindles are small, wrapped amounts of heroin meant for street sales.
“Drug dealers who lace fentanyl into their supply and prey on vulnerable individuals who have an addiction should know that the U.S. Attorney’s Office will use every tool available to seek justice for victims of fentanyl poisoning and their families,” U.S. Attorney Michael Easley said in the release. “Webb’s actions show a complete disregard for human life motivated by sheer greed.”
NC drug overdoses decline but remain high
Last year, there were over 4,000 suspected opioid overdoses in North Carolina, according to the N.C. Office of the State Medical Examiner.
In March, there were 267 suspected overdose deaths in North Carolina and 1,176 overdoses reported in emergency rooms involving medicine or drugs with dependency factors.
That same month, 544 non-fatal opioid overdoses were reported in North Carolina emergency rooms, which was down 32% from last January to March when there were 826 non-fatal opioid overdoses.
