KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – After seven people died in what investigators called “a mass poisoning event in Kalamazoo County,’’ two men linked to those multiple fentanyl overdoses are heading to prison.
42-year-old James Smith was sentenced this week to 20 years in prison after facing multiple charges, including conspiring to distribute fentanyl and cocaine resulting in death.
27-year-old Patrick Martin was charged with using his cellphone to plan to distribute the fentanyl-laced cocaine in April 2023. He was sentenced to four years in prison.
According to federal officials, Smith admitted to his role in a series of drug-induced overdoses resulting in multiple hospital admissions and several deaths in and around Kalamazoo.
They say Smith was a drug dealer who sold cocaine by the ounce in Kalamazoo. April 12, 2023 he sold two ounces of what he believed to be cocaine, but it was actually fentanyl.
Martin was the buyer and passed the fentanyl on to several of his own customers, one of whom overdosed and died.
In a 24-hour period, first responders in Kalamazoo County attended to at least 18 overdoses.
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