Michael A. Gailor, Middlesex State’s Attorney, announced that Angel Gonzalez, 36, of Middletown, was sentenced today to serve 12 years in prison following the drug overdose death of a 21-year-old female.
Mr. Gonzalez pleaded guilty today to Manslaughter in the Second Degree, felony narcotics charges, and Risk of Injury related to the sale of fentanyl that resulted in the overdose death.
The investigation, conducted by the Investigative Services Division of the Middletown Police Department, showed that Mr. Gonzalez, who knew the victim well, sold her fentanyl on April 29, 2019. Mr. Gonzalez did so even though the victim’s boyfriend implored him not to do so because of the victim’s severe addiction to drugs. In order to avoid interference from the boyfriend, Mr. Gonzalez arranged to conduct the transaction in a parking lot of a local retail store. The victim was found deceased the following morning.
Mr. 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. An autopsy confirmed that the fentanyl was the cause of the victim’s death. Further investigation revealed that Mr. Gonzalez was paying a 15-year-old girl to store narcotics in her room. When police executed a search warrant on the girl’s room, they located 360 bags of fentanyl, according to the investigation.
The Honorable Vernon Oliver sentenced Mr. Gonzalez to 12 years to serve to be followed by 95 months of special parole. During the proceeding today in Superior Court in Middletown, Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Kevin Shay stated, “It is too easy to view drug crimes as victimless. 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.”
Statistics from the Connecticut Department of Public Health show that Connecticut has seen a dramatic increase in the number of drug-related deaths in the last two years, with more than 1200 deaths in 2019, and 831 confirmed and another 223 awaiting confirmation as of mid-August 2020.