Michael Howard, Fentanyl Distribution, Ohio 2024

Michael Howard, a 42-year-old man from Cincinnati, Ohio, was sentenced to 26 years in federal prison for distributing fentanyl that resulted in the fatal overdose of an inmate inside the Kenton County Jail. The sentence, handed down by U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar in Covington, Kentucky, marks a grim end to a drug conspiracy that cut short a life behind bars.

Howard pleaded guilty in June 2016 to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and morphine, admitting he had supplied heroin to Jamie Green for months while Green was incarcerated in Campbell and Kenton Counties. On September 4, 2014, Howard provided a substance containing fentanyl and morphine to Kimberly Mullins—Green’s mother—for delivery into the jail. Mullins, along with co-defendants Lisa Lattimore and Lynette Ball, orchestrated the transfer through inmates on work release.

The drugs reached Green inside the Kenton County Jail. She used the substance and was found dead the following day, September 5, 2014. An autopsy confirmed the cause of death as acute fentanyl and morphine intoxication. The fatal delivery exploited gaps in jail security, turning a correctional facility into a conduit for deadly narcotics.

A federal grand jury in Covington indicted Howard, Mullins, Lattimore, and Ball on November 12, 2015, charging them with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances resulting in death. Mullins, Lattimore, and Ball pleaded guilty on March 29, 2016. Mullins was sentenced to 244 months, Lattimore to 160 months, and Ball to 144 months. All four defendants must serve at least 85 percent of their sentences under federal mandatory minimum laws.

The investigation was led by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Kenton County Police Department, unraveling a network that funneled drugs into the jail through third parties and compromised release programs. The case highlights the deadly reach of the opioid trade—even into supposedly secure institutions.

Kerry B. Harvey, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Timothy J. Plancon, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA’s Louisville Field Division, announced the sentence. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony Bracke prosecuted the case for the federal government, underscoring federal resolve to hold dealers accountable when drugs turn deadly.

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