The United States Department of Justice announced Thursday that Vernon Antwan Martin, 37, of Columbia, has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for the distribution of fentanyl to a 20-year-old University of South Carolina student that resulted in her death.
Columbia Police Department (CPD) officers conducted a welfare check on the woman at a Columbia apartment after family and friends reported that they were unable to contact her. During the welfare check CPD officers found the woman dead, and an autopsy report confirmed that she had died from a fentanyl overdose.
Based on evidence collected during an investigation into the woman’s death law enforcement determined that Martin had distributed a counterfeit pill to her on May 30, 2023, that she believed to be Percocet which actually contained fentanyl…