Ramero M. Randolph, 36, sold fentanyl to a man who thought he was buying cocaine, resulting in the deaths of the buyer and a woman, a report states.
A Riverview man is facing murder charges after two people fatally overdosed last year on a powder that they thought was cocaine but turned out to contain fentanyl, court records state.
Hillsborough deputies on Thursday arrested Ramero Miguel Randolph, 36, on two counts of first degree murder resulting from distribution of a controlled substance.
The charges stem from the deaths of William D. Jackson, 41, and Amanda A. Stephens, 35. Both Jackson and Stephens were found dead July 6 at Jackson's home on Richmond Street in Gibsonton, according to an arrest affidavit.
That day, Hillsborough deputies responded to a "man down" call and found Jackson and Stephens' bodies in the living room, the affidavit states. Investigators found in the same room a plastic baggie and a straw containing a white powdery substance that tested positive for fentanyl.
Detectives learned that Jackson and Stephens were last seen alive on June 30. A search of Jackson's phone revealed that he communicated with Randolph by phone call and text message between June 28 and July 1, according to the affidavit.
On June 28, Jackson sent a message to Randolph asking to buy $100 worth of cocaine and $100 worth of marijuana. The text messages and the location of Jackson and Randolph's cell phones indicate they completed the transaction on July 1 at about 1 p.m., according to the affidavit.
Soon after, Jackson sent Randolph a message telling him "that powder is garbage" and "no good," the affidavit states. Jackson asked Randolph if he could get "some good crack" cocaine.
"Hell yeah that's mainly what [I] sell," Randolph replied. Jackson asked to buy $40 worth of crack "later."
But that transaction apparently never happened. Detectives determined that Jackson and Stephens overdosed on the powder that Randolph had sold Jackson, according to the affidavit. Their autopsies revealed they both died from fentanyl intoxication.
Detectives then obtained a warrant for Randolph's arrest. Booking records show he was arrested in Riverview.
Randolph was already out on bail at the time of his arrest, records show. In August, he was arrested in Hillsborough County on a cocaine possession charge after a Hillsborough deputy found a small amount of cocaine under a floormat in his car during a traffic stop in Riverview, according to an arrest affidavit.
Randolph was being held without bond Friday in the Hillsborough County jail. Prosecutors increasingly have used the threat of homicide charges as a tool to combat the opioid crisis, with fentanyl becoming a focus. The powerful synthetic painkiller, once almost exclusively used in medical settings, is now as common in street sales as cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and other illicit drugs.
A provision of state law allows the state to bring a first-degree murder charge against a person who sells drugs if the buyer later dies of an overdose.
In August, a Tampa jury convicted a man accused of selling fentanyl to another man, who later died of an overdose. A judge immediately imposed the mandatory life sentence on Anthony Mansfield, then 47, who had been tried on a first degree murder charge in the death of 27-year-old Querraun "Que" Talley.
Before trial, Mansfield's defense attorneys asked a judge to dismiss the case, arguing that he had no criminal intent beyond the sale of a small amount of drugs. They noted the tens of thousands of overdose deaths that occur nationwide each year, and Talley was aware of the risks of taking dangerous drugs.
Prosecuting the case as a murder, they argued, was unconstitutional. A judge denied the request.