‘A tragic case.’ Tri-Cities fentanyl dealer sentenced. The drugs killed a father of 7

A Tri-Cities man was sentenced to four years and three months in prison after the overdose death of a West Richland father from the fentanyl he was given.

Attorneys for Ron Montgomery, 43, had asked that he be sentenced to the time he’d already served in jail, sparing him from being sent to a federal prison.

But U.S. Senior Judge Edward Shea in a hearing at the Richland federal courthouse this week sentenced Montgomery to the prison time requested by the prosecution and five years probation. A separate hearing to determine the restitution he must pay will be held Oct. 31.

Montgomery agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl in exchange for prosecutors dropping a charge of distribution of fentanyl resulting in death.

The case against Montgomery and co-defendant Christopher West began after Brandon J. Duzenski, 28, died of a fentanyl overdose in his grandparents’ bathroom in Benton City in July 2018.

Duzenski had a long history of drug abuse in Spokane before he moved in with his grandparents , along with his wife and infant daughter, two months before his death, according to a court document.

His goal was to make a fresh start, and he found work as a roofer.

But he became depressed when his wife left him weeks after they moved to Benton City, his family told investigators.

The night before his death he went to take a shower. Early the next morning his grandfather heard the shower still running and discovered his body.

An investigation found that Duzenski had pills delivered to the house by West, who was buying them from Montgomery.

Surveillance cameras were set up at Montgomery’s home on 62nd Avenue in West Richland and at a second home in a trailer court on Grosscup Boulevard after he moved to a different West Richland home.

The cameras recorded frequent visitors to the homes, with visitors staying just a few minutes.

A search of Montgomery’s home in January 2020 found about 100 fentanyl-laced pills and three cell phones in his bedroom. Also found in the home were a wallet with $650 in $20s and smaller bills and a spiral notebook that appeared to record drug transactions, according to a court document.

Early Tri-Cities fentanyl dealer

Montgomery was selling the pills for $30 each, according to a court document.

Officials say Montgomery started dealing drugs early in the fentanyl crisis when a large seller would have about 100 pills and users likely did not understand how deadly the drug is.

Now large sellers deal in quantities of thousands of fentanyl pills and the cost may be $1 to $5 each, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Van Marter.

“It only takes a half a pill to kill,” she said.

Van Marter said Montgomery deserved a longer prison term than the four years plus $40,000 restitution West received when he was sentenced in December.

But Montgomery’s sentence also was required to reflect the smaller amount of pills he was dealing than people who have been sentenced for larger recent sales.

Duzenski’s two school-age stepchildren told the judge how much they missed him. Duzenski also had five other children.

He used to take her fishing and snowboarding, his stepdaughter said. She has not gone snowboarding since he died.

Her younger brother said before he was too overcome by tears to say more, that Duzenski might not have been his birth father, but that he would always be his father.

Duzenski’s mother also planned to speak but was too emotional to talk at the hearing. About a dozen of Duzenski’s family members came to court, and relatives submitted letters to the judge.

Fentanyl sales supported addiction

Montgomery had a difficult early life, both the defense and prosecuting attorneys said.

He dropped out of high school to care for his brother and his father, who was an addict, until his father died.

He became a chef as an adult despite also struggling with addiction. Most recently he started taking pain pills after an injury.

They were overprescribed by Dr. Janet Arnold of Richland, he said. She was sentenced to four years in prison last year for her role in running an opioid prescription “pill mill” out of her Richland office.

After her office was closed following a raid by federal agents in 2017, Montgomery started buying fentanyl illegally, he told the judge.

As he became more addicted he was taking as many as 10 pills a day at a cost of $200 or more a day. He began selling pills to pay for his addition, he said.

When West came to him in 2018, Montgomery said he sold him a few pills, thinking it was for West’s own use.

He did not learn that West had sold pills and that Duzenski, who he had never met, had died until he was questioned by police, he said.

After that he began working to break his addiction, initially using prescribed suboxone and then tapering down doses until he was drug free. He has been clean for three years and 10 months, he said.

“ I would like to sincerely apologize to Brandon’s family,” he said in the court hearing, crying as he spoke.

The death keeps him up at night, he told the judge, and said he would accept any sentence Shea handed down.

Jason Bliss, who has worked with at least 1,000 recovering addicts to place them in housing over the last 12 years, said that Montgomery stood out for his leadership role.

Montgomery now lives in an Oxford House for recovering addicts and has held multiple house and chapter leadership offices.

He has shown a talent for resolving personality conflicts among residents of Oxford Houses and has helped mediate them at Tri-Cities and Walla Walla Oxford Houses.

He also is good at talking with other members of Oxford House when they are struggling.

‘Tragic case’ says judge

Nothing can erase the tragedy of Duzenski’s death. But if Montgomery were sentenced to time served, one outcome of the tragedy would be Montgomery’s continued positive impact on the community, said Montgomery’s attorney, Adam Pechtel of Kennewick.

“No,” members of Duzenski’s family said quietly as Pecthel said that could be a legacy of the death.

The judge called it “a tragic case.”

Duzenski was an addict and had major issues, but was loved by his family, Shea said.

“His loss is irreplaceable,” and his family will relive his death every year, he said.

Montgomery’s family also loves him, as evidenced by letters to the court, and he has made “extraordinary strides” to become a better person, Shea said. He has shown remorse and has contributed to the community while out of jail pending an outcome in the case.

He has no previous convictions as an adult.

But Montgomery contributed to a fentanyl crisis that has ravished the Tri-Cities community and caused one known death, Shea said as he sentenced him.