Two women sentenced for friend’s OD death
Two Colorado women were sentenced to probation and must make donations to anti-drug organizations after they pleaded guilty to buying a fatal dose of fentanyl for their friend in 2021, according to court documents.
Grace Kohler, 23, and Elizabeth Brown, 24, admitted to purchasing what they believed were oxycodone pills – but which were actually the dangerous synthetic opioid – while vacationing in Mexico and smuggling them back into the United States.
The women later sold the drugs to a friend, identified in court documents as J.B., who was found dead of an overdose the next morning, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Colorado.
Both women were sentenced last week after they pleaded guilty Nov. 29 to a felony charge of conspiracy to import a controlled substance to the United States from Mexico.
A judge in federal court agreed with a request from the victim’s family that the women avoid a prison term, sentencing Kohler and Brown to three years of probation and 240 hours of community service, according to court documents. The women were also ordered to pay $10,000 to an organization based in Boulder, Colorado, that promotes substance abuse awareness and prevention.
Kohler and Brown admitted to purchasing pills for J.B. while vacationing in August 2021 in the Mexican coastal resort town of Playa Del Carmen.
While visiting a pharmacy, the women exchanged text messages and calls with their friend who instructed them to buy oxycodone, according to a plea agreement. Kohler paid $300 and was later reimbursed by the friend.
J.B.’s roommate found him dead in his bedroom. Boulder police found the counterfeit pills with the letter “M” and the number “30” stamped on them in a poor imitation of oxycodone pills, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.