Ohio Man Sentenced for Trafficking Fentanyl Resulting in Overdose Death

ASHLAND, Ky. – A Columbus, Ohio, man, Angelo Dre Clifton, 31, was sentenced on Monday, by Chief U.S. District Judge David Bunning, to 25 years in prison, for the distribution of fentanyl resulting in an overdose death.  

According to Clifton’s plea agreement, on June 9, 2019, law enforcement responded to reports of an unresponsive victim in Boyd County, Ky. When law enforcement arrived, the victim was pronounced dead; her cause was death was later determined to be a fentanyl overdose. 

Law enforcement searched the victim’s phone and found messages between the victim and Clifton discussing the purchase of controlled substances. When Clifton learned of the victim’s death, he admitted to a friend via video message that the victim had overdosed on “[his] dope.” In his plea agreement, Clifton also admitted that from May 2019 through June 2019, he routinely offered to distribute and distributed heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamine to others in the Eastern District of Kentucky. 

Under federal law, Clifton must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence. Upon his release from prison, he will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for six years. 

Paul McCaffrey, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Jim Scott, Special Agent in Charge, DEA, Louisville Field Division; and Sheriff Jamie Reihs, Boyd County Sheriff’s Office, jointly announced the sentence.

The investigation was conducted by DEA and Boyd County Sheriff’s Office.

– END –