New York resident Tyler Dean, 49, was sentenced on Monday for his role in the overdose deaths of a Rockland couple.
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In June, 2020, Dean, using a pseudonym, shipped a package containing fentanyl from his home near Schenectady, New York, via the United States Postal Service, to a married couple in Rockland.
The couple who received the package both died of an overdose on the same day the package arrived.
Neither victim was named by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
For his role in the deaths, Dean was sentenced to only two years in prison, followed by a three-year period of supervised release.
Following an examination of Dean’s text messages, the court determined that, although Dean was aware that he was sending a controlled substance through the mail, he was unaware that the controlled substance was fentanyl.
The identity of the substance was only determined after lab testing was preformed on the package.
The attorney’s office did not reveal who else was involved in the drug operation, or how Dean acquired the package without specific knowledge of its contents.
According to 2023 data, fentanyl was responsible for 78 percent of Maine overdose deaths.
Strange how things seem to work sometimes. Those who go injecting illegal. substances into their bodies expose themselves to a huge risk of dying from that situation someday. All the politicians in the world can make every drug they want illegal and that will not stop those so inclined from getting it or using it. We should have learned this during prohibition of alcohol but politicians love power and have very very short memories. I feel bad for those who die this way but they made their own choices in life. Sad so many want to have out of mind experiences fueled by drugs and booze.