2 NC teens died from fentanyl. Police arrest man suspected of selling it.
A 21-year-old has been charged for the deaths of two teens, killed by fentanyl five months ago, Belmont Police Department officials said Thursday.
On January 10, Belmont Police officers responded to a 911 call from a relative after a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old were found unconscious. The teens, who were not identified by police, died at the hospital from a drug overdose.
An autopsy confirmed that the teens died of fentanyl and police launched an investigation. On Thursday, police said they charged Sage Wright, who was already in-custody at the Gaston County Jail, with conspiracy to sell and deliver and death by distribution.
Death by distribution is a felony charge in North Carolina in cases where someone sells an illegal drug to someone who dies in an overdose. It was signed into law by the North Carolina legislature in 2019 and carries a maximum sentence of nearly 20 years in prison.
Police and court leaders say death by distribution cases are difficult to prosecute, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
The threshold for proof in these cases is often hard to reach. To prove someone is responsible for death by distribution, police and prosecutors must show they sold the victim the illegal drug that killed them; the drug was responsible for the victim’s death; and, the victim didn’t have an underlying medical condition triggered by the drug, according to the law.
