A man who sold a fatal dose of fentanyl has had his charge upgraded from manslaughter to first-degree murder, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office.
Bernard Mullen, 52, was arrested in June in Chicago after a 58-year-old woman died on an overdose.
After detectives looked through surveillance video and text messages on the victim's phone, they said they determined Mullen was the person who allegedly gave her the drugs. He is still being held in the Sarasota County Jail.
“This is just another example of how our four-pronged pragmatic approach to opioids continues to tackle addiction in Sarasota County,” said Sheriff Tom Knight. “While we work carefully to educate, prevent and treat those who need help, enforcement is always our top priority. We will continue to exhaustively investigate these overdoses and put dealers behind bars every chance we get.”
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