Middletown Man Sentenced In Connection With Fatal Overdose

Middletown CT

10 November, 2020

8:39 PM

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MIDDLETOWN, CT — A Middletown man has been sentenced to serve 12 years in prison in connection with the overdose death of a 21-year-old woman, Middlesex State's Attorney Michael A. Gailor announced on Tuesday. Angel Gonzalez, 36, pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree manslaughter, felony narcotics charges and risk of injury related to the sale of fentanyl that resulted in the overdose death, according to Gailor. Gonzalez was also sentenced to 95 months of special parole following the prison term. Gonzalez was accused of selling fentanyl to the victim, who he knew well, on April 29, 2019. Gonzalez did so "even though the victim's boyfriend implored him not to do so because of the victim's severe addiction to drugs," officials wrote in a news release. Gonzalez avoided interference from the boyfriend by arranging to conduct the transaction in the parking lot of a local retail store, according to officials. The victim was found dead the next morning, officials said. "Gonzalez admitted that empty bags found near the victim's body were the bags in which the fentanyl he sold to the victim were packaged," the news release states. "An autopsy confirmed that the fentanyl was the cause of the victim's death." Further investigation found that Gonzalez was paying a 15-year-old girl to store narcotics in her room, according to officials. Middletown police found 360 bags of fentanyl when they executed a search warrant on her room. "It is too easy to view drug crimes as victimless," Senior Assistant State's Attorney Kevin Shay said during Tuesday's proceeding. "But, cases like this remind us of the human cost which cannot be ignored. For people like Mr. Gonzalez, money is more valuable than human life even when it is the life of someone they know."