CINCINNATI — Three lives have been forever changed and countless others have been impacted after a drug overdose in Middletown.
Larry Fugate, 32, was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison for distributing fentanyl. The drugs Fugate distributed ultimately caused one of his close friends to overdose and die in 2022.
“When my son found out, it just crushed him,” said Fugate’s mother, Terri Fugate. “It devastated me and now he's, he's paying for it.”
The other man charged in the case never made it to sentencing. He died from an overdose after he was released on bond, according to Fugate's attorney.
“I feel sorry for the other two’s family,” Terri said. “The other two people that passed away. I feel so sorry for them.”
Terri said her son suffers from addiction. Fugate’s attorney said he sold drugs to feed his habit. It was a habit he picked up during childhood, while coping with several traumatic events, like watching his father get shot.
“He's never been offered treatment, not one time,” Terri said. “They said he was a lost cause.”
Judge Susan Dlott told Fugate he “might as well have shot (the victim).” Dlott urged Fugate to turn his life around in prison, warning him if he didn’t, he would spend the rest of life in the system.
“It's overwhelming, but at least it saved my son's life right now,” Terri said. “That's how I feel. With him being incarcerated, he's not out here doing drugs and it's literally saved his life.”
Prosecutors have filed similar cases across the Tri-State.
Last month, a man was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in Brown County after two people were found dead in a home. Investigators found drugs and drug paraphernalia inside.
Five people from Dayton were indicted in January in a narcotics conspiracy that allegedly led to at least one overdose death.
“There are no winners with any of this,” said Newtown Police Chief Tom Synan, who helped start the Hamilton County Addiction Response.
Synan has been a leader in the fight against overdose deaths in the Tri-State. He said cases like this help bring justice for victims’ families. The challenge is deterring them.
“How do you deter either one of those?” he said. “This [is a] chronic mental health condition. And how do you deter someone that has the potential make a lot of money? Neither one are good.”
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