The fentanyl crisis in Oklahoma is spinning out of control. Fatal overdoses from fentanyl during the past several years have soared.
From 54 deaths in 2019 to 299 deaths in 2021, Oklahoma saw a 454% increase in fentanyl overdoses resulting in fatalities. Of the nearly 800 opioid-related deaths in Oklahoma in 2022, fentanyl was responsible for 619 of them – 75% of the total – according to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control.
An influx into Oklahoma of foreign nationals from China and Mexico who “have no regard for our laws or public safety” are not only growing “black-market marijuana,” they also are producing and distributing fentanyl, state Attorney General Gentner Drummond testified before the Homeland Security Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives on Jan. 10.
Currently a Chickasha man is one of two convicted felons charged with first-degree murder in fentanyl overdose deaths, and another Chickasha man was sentenced to federal prison last year for distributing fentanyl that almost caused a fatal overdose.
In addition, four Grady County residents are awaiting sentencing in federal court for their roles in the distribution of fentanyl that resulted in the death of another person within “Indian Country” in Grady County.
• Mark Lamar James Richardson, 52, is accused in the death of Joshua Camuel Edgar, 31, on Oct. 1, 2021, at his home in Comanche. Investigators believe Richardson sold Edgar two counterfeit oxycodone pills that day.
An autopsy showed Edgar died from acute fentanyl toxicity. The medical examiner reported finding Benadryl, too, in the victim.
Court documents indicate Edgar traveled to Chickasha to buy pills for relief of pain after having shoulder surgery “from playing football.” Investigators reportedly found several messages between Edgar and Richardson that referenced buying pills.
The murder charge against Richardson was filed on March 10, 2022, in Stephens County District Court, but he was released from custody early last month on a medical “own recognizance” bond. Southwest Ledger called the Stephens County District Attorney’s office last Friday and left a message for Assistant D.A. Cortnie Siess, seeking an explanation, but she was out of the office.
Richardson was charged in Grady County District Court in 2021 with possession and distribution of a controlled dangerous substance. He is scheduled to return to court on April 23 to answer to those two felony charges.
Records of the Oklahoma State Courts Network and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections also show that Richardson was sentenced in Grady County in 1991 for distribution of a controlled dangerous substance and possession/concealing stolen property; and in 1992 for bail jumping and concealing/withholding stolen property.
He was imprisoned on a 2002 conviction for being in actual physical control of a motor vehicle while driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and after pleading guilty in 2004 to possession of a controlled dangerous substance.
• In a separate case, Jeromy Ray Mark, 36, was charged Jan. 3, 2024, with first-degree murder in the death of a woman from a fentanyl overdose last year. He is accused of providing drugs to Salenea Joy North, 51, who was found dead May 9, 2023, when Oklahoma City police were dispatched to conduct a welfare check.
The state Medical Examiner’s Office ruled that North died from acute fentanyl and methamphetamine toxicity.
Mark pleaded guilty last June to possession of a firearm after a former felony conviction; he received a 10-year suspended prison sentence concurrent with a conviction in a 2019 Oregon case.
• A Grady County man was sentenced last year to 10 years in federal prison for distributing fentanyl that caused a near-fatal overdose.
According to court records, on or about Dec. 30, 2021, Marcus Lamar Richardson, 24, of Chickasha, distributed a pill containing fentanyl to co-defendant Brianna Rechell Hugar, 25, to deliver to another person. That individual overdosed and nearly died as a result of the fentanyl.
The victim survived “only because of life saving measures by Chickasha police,” Oklahoma Western District U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester said.
Richardson pleaded guilty in December 2022 and was sentenced in September 2023 in Oklahoma City federal court by U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton.
In announcing the sentence, Heaton commented on the seriousness of the offense as well as the extent of the threat to the public posed by fentanyl, and thus, by extension, Richardson’s conduct. The judge also noted that it took only half a pill for the victim to overdose, while also observing that Richardson was distributing significant quantities of the dangerous drug.
Hugar pleaded guilty to distribution of fentanyl and was sentenced last August to serve two years in federal prison.
• Four Grady County residents pleaded guilty last November to federal felony charges arising from their roles in the distribution of fentanyl that resulted in a death.
Dustin Duane Ellis, 32; Pamela Kathryn Payne, 40; and Sierra Cheyenne Mandrell, 29, were all charged with one count of distribution of fentanyl. Nicholas Lance Sweeten, 27, who admitted facilitating the deal, was charged with drug conspiracy. A Grady County resident died April 3, 2023, from an overdose of fentanyl attributed to the four defendants.
Ellis and Sweeten are scheduled to be sentenced on April 30, Payne on May 1, and Mandrell on May 6, court records reflect.
“Those who distribute drugs do so for one purpose: to make a profit,” said Eduardo A. Chávez, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dallas Division, which covers Oklahoma.
This case was prosecuted in federal court because Ellis is a member of the Choctaw Nation, Payne is a member of the Chickasaw Nation, and the crimes occurred within the boundaries of the Chickasaw Nation.