
WILMINGTON – A local man was recently sentenced to up to seven-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilty to several charges in a fatal overdose that occurred last summer.
READ MORE: Man arrested for death by distribution, two others on drug charges
Fred English pleaded guilty on June 29 to involuntary manslaughter, possession with intent to sell and deliver a schedule I controlled substance, and possession with intent to sell and deliver a schedule II controlled substance.
Superior Court Judge Kent Harrell sentenced him July 13 to 75 to 90 months in prison.
According to a release from the New Hanover County District Attorney’s Office, on Aug. 31, 2022, English sold heroin mixed with fentanyl to a 53-year-old man, William “Terry” McGuire. Deputies later arrived at the residence on Patsy Lane to find McGuire had overdosed. An autopsy would later list fentanyl toxicity as the cause of McGuire’s death.
A subsequent investigation led the deputies to English, determined to be the victim’s heroin supplier. The New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office and deputies from the Bureau of Tobacco, Alcohol, Firearms and Explosives arrested English, along with two women charged with other drug-related offenses.
“We want to make it very clear that when you choose to get into the business of selling these deadly drugs, the members of our local law enforcement will find you and justice will be done,” New Hanover Assistant District Attorney Sean Spiering, who prosecuted the case, said in a press release.
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