Florida man gets 22 yrs for selling drugs in fatal overdose

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man who pleaded guilty to selling a fatal dose of heroin laced with fentanyl has been sentenced to 22 years in prison.

Calvin Warren Jr., 37, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 2018 death of Thomas Matuseski. He is the first man to be charged with homicide in connection to an overdose death in Palm Beach County. The Palm Beach Post reports he also pleaded guilty to the sale of cocaine and to possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia and was sentenced earlier this week.

Boynton Beach Police say police say Matuseski’s roommate found him unresponsive on the bedroom floor last year. A toxicology report said he tested positive for fentanyl and other drugs. The 36-year-old worked at a drug rehab where he helped others dealing with addiction.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement Medical Examiners Commission said 2,348 people died in Florida from fentanyl last year. In 2018, fentanyl killed 278 people in Palm Beach County, the highest out of all counties in the state.

“Warren confessed to sending Matuseski a text asking if he was alive, because a person told him that the heroin had fentanyl in it and he didn’t want him to do too much and die,” according to court documents.

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