Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia Bradshaw announced that an Atlantic City drug dealer had been sentenced to seven years in New Jersey state prison for causing the death of a 37-year-old woman who fatally overdosed in 2019 fentanyl-laced heroin he sold to her the day before she died.
Officials said under an agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office, Kahlil Carpenter, 31, pled guilty last month to Strict Liability for Drug-Induced Death (First Degree) in exchange for the prison term.
The sentence was handed down Friday in Superior Court in Mount Holly by the Hon. Gerard. H. Breland, J.S.C.
“Fentanyl has destroyed so many families and devastated several of our communities,” Prosecutor Bradshaw said. “We must take extraordinary measures to offer protection against such harmful, and often deadly, effects.”
According to the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office, the investigation began on December 14, 2019, after Evesham Township police officers were dispatched to Inverness Circle for a report of an unconscious and unresponsive female.
They entered the home and found the decedent, Holly Morris, in her bed.
An autopsy performed by Burlington County Medical Examiner Dr. Ian Hood determined she died from fentanyl toxicity, with levels in her system five times greater than the amount necessary to cause death.
Officials said the investigation determined that Morris had met Carpenter in Lumberton Township on December 13, 2019, to purchase the drugs.
Carpenter was prosecuted by Assistant Prosecutor Michael Angermeier, supervisor of the Gang, Gun and Narcotics Task Force. The case was investigated by the Evesham Township Police (NJ) Department.