Bartlesville fentanyl dealer found guilty of first-degree murder in historic case
A Washington County jury delivered a guilty verdict Thursday for 32-year-old Jason Johnson of Bartlesville in a landmark case involving the overdose death of a local man in 2021.
Johnson was convicted of first-degree murder and could face life imprisonment with the possibility of parole following the jury's recommendation.
Washington County District Attorney Will Drake believes the mountain of evidence led to the quick return of a guilty verdict by the jury in less than a few hours.
"The timeline is so tight, and it's all on videotape as far as him coming in and out of the hotel and then to the gas station," Drake said. "He visits his drug dealer, and he's dead in 15 minutes."
The case centers around the tragic death of Terry Toth, who was found dead at Murphy's Gas Station on Green Country Road in Bartlesville on Oct. 29, 2021.
Investigators discovered a fentanyl-laced pill in the bathroom where Toth was found, pointing to an overdose as the cause of death.
Court records reveal that Toth purchased the fatal pills from Johnson and his father, Charles Johnson. Despite both men admitting to previous dealings with Toth, they have consistently denied providing him with any substances on the day of his death. Their accounts, however, varied significantly during the investigation.
"We knew he was dealing drugs out of that hotel room, as a matter of fact," Drake said." We have Facebook Messenger, phone calls and all these text messages; that's how we know Jason Johnson is the guy."
Evidence showed that the transaction between Toth and the Johnsons occurred at the Extended Stay Hotel on Washington Boulevard shortly before Toth's death at the nearby gas station. The duo was apprehended in March 2021 following a sting operation by undercover agents from the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics (OBN), who managed to buy fentanyl pills from them.
Wake-up call for fentanyl dealers
Drake hopes this conviction is a wake-up call to people dealing fentanyl that it just won't be drug charges. It will be murder charges. He noted that this case could be the first first-degree murder conviction connected to fentanyl, but it won't be the last.
"If you're distributing [controlled dangerous substances], and they die — it's murder, first degree," Drake said. "It's so scary because you're letting people who have no business being pharmacists handle incredibly dangerous pharmaceuticals."
He said there are currently eight overdose cases from 2023 in Washington County linked to fentanyl, but with a backlog at the medical examiner's office, that could rise as results come back. In 2023, OBN reported Oklahoma had over 600 deaths from fentanyl.
Drake pointed out that there has been a large influx of fentanyl pills coming to Washington County in recent years. He pointed out that the price of a single pill when Johnson was arrested in 2021 was $20 to $30. Now, it's $1 to $2.
"There's no consistency in the pills," Drake said. "So you could take one pill, and nothing happens to you, but you take another pill, and you're dead because of the lack of consistency."
Jason Johnson awaits his sentencing on March 6 while remaining at the Washington County Jail. Meanwhile, Charles Johnson is scheduled to appear in court on March 8, facing related charges.
This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Landmark verdict: Drug dealer faces life for fentanyl overdose death
