A Green Bay man pleaded no contest June 5 to conspiring to deliver over 50 grams of fentanyl, a charge that stemmed from an investigation into a May 2024 overdose death.
Demarcus Hicks, 37, was charged July 25, 2024, with first-degree reckless homicide by drug delivery as a party to a crime, maintaining a drug trafficking place, possessing narcotic drugs, possessing drug paraphernalia and conspiring to to deliver more than 50 grams of fentanyl. Under a plea agreement, the other charges were dismissed in return for the no contest plea.
Hicks returns to court Aug. 3 to be sentenced.
Around 10:22 a.m. May 25, 2024, Green Bay police were dispatched to the 1900 block of Basten Street after a woman was found dead in her apartment, according to a criminal complaint. An autopsy found she died from toxic effects of fentanyl and para-fluorofentanyl, a synthetic opioid.
Investigators analyzed the woman’s phone and found phone calls, text messages and Cash App transactions between her and Hicks. According to the complaint, that information identified Hicks as the source of the fentanyl the victim overdosed from.
Hicks was arrested July 18, 2024. Investigators found fentanyl and drug paraphernalia in his apartment, the complaint said.
Hicks told police he had been selling heroin for a year and cited financial pressures as the reason why, the complaint said. Hicks said he was a distributor for Damien Gambrell, who pleaded guilty in federal court Sept. 17 to distributing fentanyl that resulted in death in connection to the woman’s overdose.
Hicks’ criminal complaint described Gambrell as the “head of a drug trafficking organization primarily trafficking fentanyl” in the Green Bay and Brown County area. Gambrell is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court June 29.
An investigation into the organization determined Hicks and another distributor were provided at least 70.9 grams of fentanyl to sell in May 2024, the complaint said. Investigators estimate the value of that amount of fentanyl to be $7,090. Two milligrams of fentanyl can be a lethal dose, according to the DEA.
Vivian Barrett is the public safety reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. You can reach her at vmbarrett@usatodayco.com or (920) 431-8314.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Green Bay man pleads to fentanyl charge stemming from 2024 overdose
Reporting by Vivian Barrett, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
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By Vivian Barrett, Green Bay Press-Gazette | USA TODAY Network
