Raleigh man gets 15 years in prison for fentanyl overdose on woman

A Raleigh man will spend 15 years in prison for selling drugs that resulted in the overdose and death of a 22-year-old woman in 2017.

Treveris Montel Coward, 31, was sentenced to 180 months in prison for “aiding and abetting the distribution of fentanyl” in the Raleigh area. This includes April 11, 2017, when 22-year-old Emily Renzo was found dead in her home from an accident. heroin overdose mixed with fentanyl, The News & Observer previously reported.

A day earlier, Renzo was given fentanyl by Coward’s girlfriend, Amanda McLeod, and overdosed, according to the United States Department of Justice press release. Coward and McLeod went to the scene and helped Renzo and she survived.

“However, despite the victim’s recent overdose, Coward and McLeod provided the victim with additional fentanyl the following day, provided by Coward’s co-defendant, Reginald Webb, which caused the victim to overdose and die,” the press release said.

Coward was originally charged with second-degree murder in 2019.

“Drug traffickers increasingly sell drugs laced with deadly fentanyl to make them stronger, more addictive and more profitable,” said U.S. Attorney Michael Easley in a press release. “Now thousands of North Carolinians, including children, are dying from overdoses. This defendant was the worst kind of coward, providing aid to an overdose victim only to sell her one last deadly dose. Narcotics traffickers take note of this 15-year sentence – if your drugs kill, you will pay a heavy price.”

In 2021, McLeod pleaded guilty to “distributing a quantity of fentanyl and aiding and abetting.” She is awaiting sentencing.

Earlier this year, Webb pleaded guilty to distributing fentanyl and heroin and was sentenced to 198 months in prison.