After Teen’s Fatal Overdose, South Jersey Man Sentenced To 12 Years

MAYS LANDING, NJ – A South Jersey man has been sentenced to over a decade in state prison after selling drugs to a teen that resulted in a fatal fentanyl-laced cocaine overdose.

Freddie W. Smith, 44, of Vineland, was sentenced Monday in Atlantic County Superior Court to 12 years in state prison, the Atlantic City Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement. He will have to serve at least 10 years until he’s eligible for parole and will be subject to a five-year term of parole supervision upon his release from prison.

The sentencing stems from an investigation conducted by the Buena Vista Criminal Investigation Office of the New Jersey State Police, which revealed that Smith sold the drugs containing fentanyl to an 18-year-old at a Vineland Wawa on March 11, 2020. The teen was found dead on a couch in his family home the next morning, the prosecutor’s office said.

Toxicology testing of the 18-year-old’s blood later revealed he died from fentanyl and cocaine; and a search warrant executed on Smith’s home led to the discovery of drug packaging paraphernalia, fentanyl, and cocaine, officials said.