Drug dealer sentenced to 5 years for overdose death

MOUNT HOLLY » Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina announced that a Mercer County drug dealer was sentenced Friday to five years in state prison for causing the death of a Bordentown Township customer who overdosed on the fentanyl he sold him on Thanksgiving Day.

The sentence was handed down by the Hon. Terrence R. Cook, J.S.C. to Thao Nguyen, 27, of Arena Drive in Hamilton, who pled guilty in July to one count of first-degree strict liability for drug-induced death.

Nguyen must serve 85 percent of the term before reaching parole eligibility. Upon release from prison he will be subject to five years parole supervision. He has been detained in the Burlington County Jail since being arrested at his home on April 7 following the execution of a search warrant.

The investigation revealed that Nguyen sold fentanyl to a 25-year-old Bordentown Township resident, who fatally overdosed at his residence on November 24, 2016. An autopsy performed by Burlington County Medical Examiner Dr. Ian Hood determined that the death was caused by fentanyl toxicity.

Prosecutor Coffina pledged to continue holding dealers accountable for drug-induced deaths.

“Judge Cook said it best when he stated in open court that the defendant had made a decision to poison the community, and as a result of that decision, deprived the victim’s family of this person they all loved so much,” he said. “Drug dealers who make similar decisions to poison the community with dangerous narcotics should take note of this case and expect that we will pursue drug-induced death homicide prosecutions whenever they recklessly cause the death of another through the drugs they are selling. And when the facts support it, we will not hesitate to seek the maximum sentence that the statute carries. The particular facts of this case led us to agree to a plea agreement with the five-year recommended sentence that the Court imposed, and we recognize that no prison term would seem like adequate justice to the family of this young man. Our thoughts are with them today and we hope they will find some comfort that this defendant will be unable to cause another family to be similarly heartbroken for the next five years.”

The case was prosecuted by Burlington County Assistant Prosecutor Jeremy Lackey. It was investigated by the Bordentown Township Police Department, with assistance from the BCPO Gang, Gun and Narcotics Task Force, the BCPO High-Tech Crimes Unit, the Hamilton Township Police Department Tactical Team and the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics Task Force. The lead investigator was Bordentown Township Detective Josh Pavlov.