Austin drug dealer sentenced to 20 years in the fentanyl poisoning death of Coupland teen
Editor's note: The story has been updated to correctly attribute a quote to defendant David Lee Jr. An earlier version of this story mistakenly attributed the quote to U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman.
The moment arrived Friday morning when Kim Crump could finally confront the three co-defendants indicted for selling fentanyl, including the fentanyl-laced tablet that killed her 18-year-old son.
"I'm Hunter Paul Crump's mother," she said in her opening remarks, where she shared that he would never marry, finish college, become a therapist, be present as an uncle, hug his sisters, hug his father, say "I love you" again. "You killed this beautiful young man. You killed this beautiful soul. You killed my baby."
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman had to not only sift through the collateral damage of Hunter's death but also mete out justice to defendants David Lee Jr., Virginia Zepeda and Jackie Lynne Chester, whose own lives read like a tragedy bound by relentless addiction, decades of mental illness and greed.
Last December, a federal grand jury in Austin indicted the trio. At the time, prosecutors alleged the three "possessed and sold counterfeit oxycodone and other fake prescription pills containing traceable amounts of fentanyl, leading to the death of at least one person." All three defendants initially pleaded not guilty.
"This is a case unlike all other cases," Pitman said, referring to fentanyl cases on his docket. "The victim fell upon the wrong people. ... The epidemic in this community is trending in the wrong direction."
On Friday, Pitman said the prison sentences "would send the clearest of messages" to the defendants and hopefully also "put a sharp focus to deter people from this sort of conduct."
The investigation started after Hunter died June 14, 2022, from fentanyl poisoning, drugs that the teenager had purchased from Chester, a transaction at a local gas station parking lot captured on camera, which provided detectives with a major lead that eventually took the trio down.
Also attending Friday's sentencing to support the Crump family were the investigators from the Williamson County Organized Crime Unit, led by Sgt. Heather Vargas.
Pitman first sentenced Lee, who received a 20-year prison sentence, followed by five years of supervised release. Lee apologized before the sentencing to his 75-year-old mother, who attended the hearing alongside the family pastor. "I have failed my friends, family, my country. I'm responsible for all I've done," Lee told the court.
His attorney, assistant federal public defender Charlotte Anne Herring, tried to distance her client from Hunter's death, noting that Lee did not manufacture the drugs and it was Chester who sold the deadly dose to the teenager. Herring also cited Lee's "substantial assistance" with prosecutors, but she did not elaborate.
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Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark H. Marshall declined to comment on Lee's assistance.
"These cases demonstrate the devastating effect of this fentanyl crisis in our community and Travis County in particular," Marshall said. "Our office is committed to bringing these cases to stem the flow of fentanyl in our community."
Pitman next sentenced Zepeda to just more than 11 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Her father spoke on her behalf and apologized to the Crumps. Zepeda's attorney, Amber Vazquez, argued that her client suffers from mental illness and an unbreakable addiction exacerbated after Zepeda met Lee. Vazquez had asked for a lower sentence, repeating that her client needs drug treatment.
Zepeda was not involved in Hunter's death but came under investigation while detectives investigated Lee.
Prosecutor Marshall had asked Judge Pitman to sentence Zepeda to as much as 135 months, citing an unrepentant history of distributing drugs. Starting in February 2021, Georgetown undercover detectives made repeated drug buys from Zepeda, even at her home on Mahogany Lane, court records show.
On June 5, 2021, a 25-year-old woman turned up dead in Zepeda's bedroom. The autopsy called Aryn Noelle Schenck's death an "accident." Schenck had fentanyl, alcohol, methamphetamine and cocaine in her system. Police did not charge Zepeda. According to a police summary of the death investigation, an officer quoted Zepeda's son pleading with his mother: "this is a wake-up sign for you to get better yourself and get sober."
"The mother didn't answer him," the report said.
On June 15 — 10 days after Schenck's death — Georgetown undercover detectives bought more drugs from Zepeda at Mahogany Lane. No charges were filed, according to a presentencing report.
Meanwhile, court records show that while jailed in 2022 on an unrelated charge, Zepeda called Lee and told him to "distribute drugs on her behalf," conversations captured on a recorded jail line.
Pitman lastly sentenced Chester to nine years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Her attorney, Lisa Rasmussen Hoing, turned to the other defendants and to the Crump family and said: "(Chester) is the one who gave her friend the pill. Hunter Crump was her friend. She knows she will live with this for the rest of her life."
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Hoing sought to stress the point that her client owned up to Hunter's death, and, in fact, stopped dealing drugs. Court records also show that Chester continues to battle with addiction.
Kim Crump had told the court that Chester's son went to school with Hunter and visited their home, which made the betrayal even worse. And Crump left all three defendants with a solemn promise Friday.
"I will send you a Christmas card every year so you remember my son," said Crump, who attended each court hearing, always hugging a portrait of Hunter.
Afterward, Kim Crump said she joined Lee's mother and pastor. "We prayed together. My husband commented afterward as we were driving home that we feel quite a bit lighter," she said.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin drug dealer sentenced to 20 years in fentanyl death of teen
