Pennsylvania Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Selling Fentanyl That Caused Buyer's Near-Fatal Overdose and Serious Bodily Injury
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Joshua Ward, 28, of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, was sentenced on November 5 by Senior U.S. District Judge Malachy E. Mannion to 240 months, or 20 years, in prison for distribution of fentanyl resulting in serious bodily injury.
According to U.S. Attorney Brian D. Miller, Ward previously pleaded guilty to distributing fentanyl that caused a serious bodily injury to another individual. As Judge Mannion noted at sentencing, Ward sold fentanyl to an individual in a vehicle and told the individual to "sniff" the fentanyl in front of him, in an effort to ensure the individual was not working as an informant for law enforcement.
The individual ingested the fentanyl and then overdosed. The individual was taken to the hospital, where he survived the near-fatal overdose.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Luzerne County Drug Task Force and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle A. Moreno. It was also brought as part of a district-wide initiative targeting heroin and opioid traffickers in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. (Source: U.S. Department of Justice)
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国缉毒局资料图显示，置于铅笔尖上的约 2 毫克芬太尼即达多数人的致死剂量；此为资料示意图，非本案查获物。Wikimedia Commons，公共领域。 / Image: A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration photo showing about 2 milligrams of fentanyl on a pencil tip, a lethal dose for most people; file photo, not evidence from this case. Via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
