OKLAHOMA CITY – Two Lawton men were indicted on federal felony charges of possession of fentanyl while also in possession of firearms.
Sean Michael Roy Monts, 35, was indicted Aug. 17 by a federal grand jury in Oklahoma City on charges of possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.
During a traffic stop on April 7, reportedly for failure to stop at a red light, Lawton police reported finding more than 500 fentanyl pills and a Glock .40-caliber pistol in Monts’ vehicle.
Monts entered a not-guilty plea on Aug. 26 and his case was placed on the Oct. 11 federal court jury docket. He remains in federal custody, court records indicate.
Another Lawtonian, Giorgio Phontaine Henderson, 34, was arrested March 9, also on drug and firearm charges.
According to an affidavit, Henderson was under surveillance by the Lawton Police Department. When he got in a vehicle and drove away, despite having a suspended driver’s license, police followed and arrested him on a warrant. A search of his premises uncovered 50 fentanyl pills and a 9mm semi-automatic pistol, police reported.
Henderson was charged in federal district court with aggravated trafficking in illegal drugs and being a felon in possession of a firearm after former felony convictions. He pleaded guilty to the charges on July 12 and was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending completion of a pre-sentencing investigation.
Multiple charges filed against Henderson in Comanche County District Court this year and last year have been held in abeyance pending disposition of the federal case.
He was arrested March 9 by the Lawton Police Department on charges of trafficking in illegal drugs, possession of a firearm after prior felony convictions, and driving while his license was suspended or revoked.
Pending at that time were multiple charges arising from his arrest by Lawton police on Nov. 16, 2021, on charges of possession of a firearm after former felony convictions, two counts of possession of a controlled dangerous substance, and transporting an open container of an alcoholic beverage.
Between 2006 and 2019, Henderson pleaded guilty in Comanche County to misdemeanor possession of methamphetamine, multiple charges of driving while his license was suspended or revoked, possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, multiple counts of possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of a firearm after a previous felony conviction, use of a firearm in commission of a felony, and conspiring to perform an act of violence.
OKC couple charged in son’s drug death
In a related matter, an Oklahoma City couple were each charged by Attorney General John O’Connor with murder in what is believed to be the fentanyl-related death of their 6-year-old son.
Harold Eugene Belton, 47, and Grashaunda Denea Brooks, 44, are named in one count of second-degree murder in the death of their young son.
According to an Oklahoma City police detective in the Crimes Against Children Unit, Belton took his son to a hospital emergency room around 5:45 a.m. on Oct. 4, 2021. According to medical staff notes, the boy did not have a pulse when he arrived; in fact, the hospital staff believed the boy had been dead “possibly at least an hour or more” before his arrival at the emergency room, based on his body temperature at admission.
Belton told OKC police investigators that the night before, his son had complained that he did not feel well. Belton told detectives he got in bed with the boy, dozed off, and woke up around 2 or 3 a.m. because he felt something wet on his shoulder. Belton said the boy was unresponsive, had mucus coming out of his nose and mouth, and when he tried to pick him up the boy’s head just drooped over.
A medical examiner said the probable cause of death was “toxic effects of fentanyl” after finding 27 ng/mL of fentanyl in the child’s blood.
After serving a search warrant, OKCPD officers and detectives reported finding three blue tablets in a plastic pill bottle labeled for Brooks, the victim’s mother, hidden inside a barbecue grill. The tablets were tested by the OKCPD laboratory and were determined to contain fentanyl. According to investigators, the tablets were counterfeited to mimic pharmaceutical oxycodone 30mg tablets.
In April 2022, Drug Enforcement Administration agents were alerted about the death and began assisting the OKCPD with the investigation. Agents determined that Brooks currently, and at least for the year prior to her son’s death, had been prescribed oxycodone tablets but did not have a prescription for fentanyl.
Fentanyl is poisonous
“Fentanyl can be a deadly poison. Illegal fentanyl is affecting not only addicts, but the young and innocent as well,” O’Connor said. “These counterfeit pills kill people and destroy families.”
Drug-overdose deaths in the U.S. last year topped 100,000 for the first time in a calendar year, fueled by the spread of illicit forms of fentanyl, throughout the nation.
Preliminary data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that more than 107,000 people in the U.S. died from drug overdoses last year, roughly a 15% increase from 2020. Approximately two thirds of the deaths were attributed to synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.
The Wall Street Journal reported recently that the Sinaloa and Jalisco organizations are a primary source of the deadly synthetic opioid.