South Florida fentanyl dealer gets 20 years in prison after his product killed a man
A South Florida fentanyl dealer was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in prison and three years of supervised release after his product killed a man last year.
Peterson Nozinord, 21, had pleaded guilty in April to one count of distributing fentanyl and cocaine resulting in death.
Investigators say Nozinord drove a man to the New England Motor Lodge motel in the city of Lantana in Palm Beach County, checked into a room and gave him four fentanyl capsules before leaving on May 19 of last year, according to his criminal complaint. The man’s name and age were not released but court documents identify him with the initials A.S.
The next morning, police received a call from the man’s parents who requested a welfare check on their son after he didn’t return to his home in Virginia and wasn’t answering their calls. They also said their son had bipolar disorder and struggled with drug addiction.
After the parents told police where their son was staying, an officer arrived at the motel and knocked on his door, but no one answered. When a motel worker opened the door at the officer’s request, they discovered the man’s body on the floor with a needle in hand. The officer also found on the dresser seven pills, four drug capsules and a small white plastic bag.
The medical examiner’s office later determined the man died due to acute fentanyl intoxication. The capsules were identified as a mixture of fentanyl, tramadol, xylazine and cocaine.
A review of the motel’s security cameras showed that the man was dropped off at the motel and checked in by someone driving a black Honda. When a sergeant was leaving the motel to head back to the police station, the officer saw the same vehicle running through a stop sign, almost causing a crash.
The sergeant then stopped the black Honda, finding Nozinord in the front passenger seat wearing the same clothes as the man seen in the motel’s surveillance footage. He was also known to police “from numerous prior interactions, including controlled substance violations,” DEA special agent Daniel Tadeo stated in the criminal complaint.
The driver of the black Honda gave permission to search the vehicle, where police found a backpack in the glove compartment that had an assortment of narcotics. Nozinord’s identification and mail addressed to him were also in the bag, along with $1,515 cash.
The drugs found in the backpack were later determined to have the same mixture of fentanyl, tramadol, xylazine and cocaine as the capsules found in the man’s motel room. Nozinord’s DNA was also found on the blue bag and pill bottle, which contained narcotics inside the backpack, and a white bag found next to the fentanyl pills in the man’s motel room, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Florida said Wednesday in a news release.
A long criminal record
Nozinord wasn’t a stranger to law enforcement in Palm Beach County.
He pleaded guilty in 2019 to one count of aggravated assault with a firearm and two counts of criminal mischief, sentenced to 150 days behind bars. In 2020, he pleaded guilty to one count of possession of heroin, one count of possession of cocaine and driving without a license, sentenced to three days in jail.
Nozinord also has two open criminal cases in the county.
Last year, Nozinord was charged in June with one count of felon in possession of a firearm. About two months later, he was charged with possession of cocaine and prescription drugs with intent to sell, and possession of heroin and marijuana
His next court date is July 26.
