Second guilty plea entered in Conway fentanyl overdose

A Conway man indicted along with his wife on conspiracy to distribute fentanyl resulting in death pleaded guilty to the charge in federal court Monday and faces a minimum penalty of 20 years in prison — and the possibility of life — when he is sentenced later this year.

Terry Wayne Franklin, 39, and his wife, Mary Danielle Sheppard, 35, were indicted by a federal grand jury in Little Rock last July on one count each of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl resulting in death and distribution of fentanyl resulting in death. The indictment was connected to the May 15, 2022, drug overdose death of a Greenbrier man, 28-year-old Isaiah Mendez, that triggered a 14-month investigation by federal authorities culminating in the indictment of Franklin and Sheppard.

According to investigators, Mendez died after ingesting fentanyl contained in counterfeit oxycodone pills he had purchased from Sheppard, who worked with Mendez’s wife at a Conway IHOP restaurant.

Sheppard, who has been held in federal custody since last July after she was denied bond by a federal magistrate judge, pleaded guilty to distribution of fentanyl resulting in death on March 21 before U.S. District Judge James M. Moody Jr. Sheppard is also facing a sentence of 20 years to life in prison when she returns for sentencing.

On Sept. 16, 2022, according to court records, Franklin and Sheppard, accompanied by their 8-year-old daughter, were pulled over in the East Texas town of Nacogdoches — about 95 miles southwest of Shreveport — for a traffic violation as they returned from Houston. A search of their vehicle by police there turned up hundreds of pills stashed in various baggies stuffed into a backpack. Franklin was arrested and has been held in the Gregg County jail in Longview, Texas since his arrest on state drug charges in Nacogdoches. Sheppard, who was not detained, was arrested by federal authorities last July 6 in Conway.

Both Franklin and Sheppard will return to court later this year for sentencing following completion of a presentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office in Little Rock, a process that normally takes between 60 and 90 days.