Cincinnati Man Gets 25 Years for Fentanyl Overdose in Kentucky

Antoine Dudley, 32, of Cincinnati, is headed to federal prison for 25 years after admitting he sold fentanyl to a buyer in northern Kentucky who nearly died from an overdose. The deal went down in Kenton County on November 21, 2014, and triggered a chain of events that ended in a harrowing rescue—and now, a life-altering sentence.

Dudley pleaded guilty Thursday in Covington federal court to distributing a controlled substance causing serious bodily injury—the result of a binding plea deal with prosecutors. U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar accepted the agreement, which mandates Dudley serve at least 85 percent of his sentence, followed by 15 years of supervised release. He is scheduled for formal sentencing on December 1, 2016. Dudley also agreed to forfeit cash and two cell phones seized during his May 8, 2015 arrest.

The victim, a woman who purchased the fentanyl from Dudley, collapsed after ingesting the drug, stopped breathing, and was clinically dead until paramedics from the Covington Fire Department arrived and administered naloxone (Narcan). She survived and has since made a full recovery, but investigators say she would have died without emergency intervention. The incident underscores the lethal unpredictability of today’s street drugs, often laced with synthetic opioids.

At the time of his arrest, Dudley was actively dealing both heroin and fentanyl across northern Kentucky between September 2014 and May 2015. Evidence presented during the trial’s first three days showed a pattern of distribution to multiple buyers. He was originally charged in September 2015 with conspiracy to distribute heroin and fentanyl, along with related counts stemming from the overdose incident.

“The increasing use of naloxone saves lives that would otherwise be lost to drug overdoses,” said Kerry B. Harvey, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. “Happily, that was the case here, but the severe penalty for selling drugs that result in an overdose applies, even if the victim survives. We intend to use every tool available to us in order to combat Kentucky’s opioid epidemic—including the mandatory sentence of 20 to life in cases such as this one.”

Dudley was prosecuted under the U.S. Attorney’s Office Overdose Prosecution Initiative, a targeted effort to hold dealers accountable when their drugs lead to overdose emergencies. The investigation was led by the FBI Safe Streets Task Force and the Covington Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony Bracke handled the prosecution. U.S. Attorney Harvey and Jennifer Moore, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI, jointly announced the conviction.

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