Raleigh man gets 15 years in prison in connection to woman’s fentanyl-related overdose
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 on April 11, 2017, when Emily Renzo, 22, was found dead in her home from an overdose of heroin mixed with fentanyl, The News & Observer previously reported.
A day before, Renzo received fentanyl from Coward’s girlfriend, Amanda McLeod, and had an overdose, according to the United States 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 provided the victim with additional fentanyl the following day, sourced by Coward’s co-defendant, Reginald Webb, which caused 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 deadly fentanyl to make them stronger, more addictive and more profitable,” said U.S. Attorney Michael Easley in a news release. “Now thousands of North Carolinians, including kids, are dying from overdoses. This defendant was the worst kind of coward, rendering aid to an overdose victim only to sell her one final deadly dose. Narcotics dealers take note of this 15-year sentence – if your drugs kill, you will pay a heavy 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.
