Young Lima woman gets prison time in Gerdeman death
Sep. 10—LIMA — A Lima woman who agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in their case against a known drug dealer who furnished fentanyl-laced drugs that allegedly caused the death of Dino Gerdeman was sentenced Thursday to 18 months in prison.
Keo'Landa Peoples-Fuqua, 20, wiped tears from her eyes as she apologized to Gerdeman's family for her role in his death.
The 59-year-old Lima man was found deceased by police inside a room at the Travelodge motel in Lima in the early morning hours of May 27, 2020. Medical experts said his death was due to the ingestion of a lethal amount of fentanyl. Peoples-Fuqua and DeJuan Lucas were each initially charged with involuntary manslaughter for providing the drugs that killed Gerdeman.
In exchange for her cooperation, the charges against Peoples-Fuqua were reduced to a third-degree felony count of attempted corrupting of another with drugs. Lucas was convicted by an Allen County jury last week of involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony, and corrupting another with drugs, a felony of the second degree, each related to Gerdeman's death. He has yet to be sentenced. Sentencing for Peoples-Fuqua was deliberately postponed until after Lucas' trial.
The woman was 19 when she admittedly procured drugs at Gerdeman's request and took part, along with two other young women, in a birthday celebration for the Lima man at the local motel. On Thursday she apologized for her actions on that night.
Portions of a letter from Gerdeman's 89-year-old mother were read aloud in court by a representative of Crime Victim Services. In it the woman said her youngest son "didn't deserve to die this way." She described Gerdeman as her sole care-taker and said she was unsure how she will survive without him.
A woman who described herself as Gerdeman's cousin told Peoples-Fuqua that forgiveness was not easily given.
"I thought you were his friend, but friends don't do this to each other," the woman said. "I hope to find forgiveness for you, but on this day I don't have it."
Defense Attorney Kenneth Rexford reminded the court that Gerdeman was responsible for his own actions.
"He was a grown man, three times my client's age, who sent her out to pick up alcohol and drugs and to hire girls to dance for him. He made choices, the drug dealer made choices and Keo'Landa made choices. She owned up to what she did and helped the state with its case," Rexford said. "In return the state treated her with dignity and compassion."
Peoples-Fuqua told Judge Terri Kohlrieser that the events of May 27, 2019, "changed me drastically ... for the good. I am a totally different person today than I was then."
The woman, who is pregnant and due to deliver a baby boy in January, said Gerdeman was more than a mentor to her, as had been brought out at Lucas's trial.
"I genuinely cared about him. He cared about my career and he listened to me," she said, fighting back tears. "I'm so sad. I just put everything in God's hands. I'm sorry."
In handing down a prison sentence, Kohlrieser acknowledge that Gerdeman "did induce" the offense for which Peoples-Fuqua was charged.
"Dino Gerdeman was a flawed but decent human being. He didn't deserve death," the judge said.
