A Raleigh man will spend 15 years in prison for selling drugs that resulted in the overdose and death of a 22-year-old woman in 2017.
Treveris Montel Coward, 31, was sentenced to 180 months in prison for “aiding and abetting the distribution of fentanyl” in the Raleigh area. That includes 22-year-old Emily Renzo, who was found dead in her home on April 11, 2017, after overdosing on heroin laced with fentanyl, The News & Observer previously reported.
A day earlier, Renzo received fentanyl from Coward’s girlfriend, Amanda McLeod, and overdosed, according to the U.S. Department of Justice news release. Coward and McLeod went to the scene and rendered aid to Renzo and she survived.
“However, despite the victim’s recent overdose, Coward and McLeod supplied the victim with additional fentanyl the next day, obtained from Coward’s co-defendant, Reginald Webb, causing her to overdose and die,” the news release said.
Coward was originally charged with second-degree murder in 2019.
“Drug dealers are increasingly selling drugs laced with the deadly fentanyl to make them more potent, addictive and profitable,” U.S. Attorney Michael Easley said in a news release. “Now thousands of North Carolina residents, including children, are dying from overdoses. This defendant was a coward of the worst kind. He helped an overdose victim and then sold her one last fatal dose. Narcotics dealers take note of this fifteen-year sentence: if your drugs are deadly, you will pay a high price.”
In 2021, McLeod pleaded guilty to “distributing a quantity of fentanyl and aiding and abetting.” She is awaiting sentencing.
Earlier this year, Webb pleaded guilty to distributing fentanyl and heroin and was sentenced to 198 months in prison.
