MONMOUTH COUNTY – A Trenton man has admitted to distributing fentanyl to a Monmouth County woman, which caused her to overdose and die.
On March 10, Quasaan Bethea, 33, pleaded guilty by videoconference to Count Two of an indictment charging possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.
According to documents, Bethea conspired with others to distribute fentanyl to a 39-year-old Monmouth County woman on May 15, 2018. The victim had approached Bethea to purchase heroin not fentanyl, which is significantly more potent narcotic than heroin.
Bethea admitted that he sold the victim fentanyl, posing the fentanyl as heroin with a stamped “CAMEL” and packaged to look like heroin.
After the victim had purchased from Bethea, Englishtown police responded to a report of an overdose death. Once at the scene, police found several wax folds of suspected heroin stamped “CAMEL” and empty wax folds stamped “CAMEL” as well.
A laboratory analysis of these wax folds determined the substance to be fentanyl. An autopsy of victim found her cause of death to be acute fentanyl toxicity.
The count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Sentencing is scheduled for July 26.
Acting U.S. Attorney Honig credited special agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Susan A. Gibson; detectives from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni; the Englishtown Police Department, under the direction of Peter S. Cooke, Jr., and the Trenton Police Department’s Narcotics Task Force, under the direction of Police Director Sheilah Coley, with the investigation leading to the guilty plea.
