PEMBERTON TOWNSHIP, NJ – Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina announced that a Pemberton Township drug dealer has been indicted for causing the death of a Pemberton Township woman who fatally overdosed two years ago on fentanyl she purchased from him.
A grand jury charged Antoine Crawley, 35, from the Sunbury Village section of the township, with Strict Liability for Drug-Induced Death (First Degree), Possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance (Third Degree), Possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance with Intent to Distribute (Third Degree) and Distribution of a Controlled Dangerous Substance (Third Degree).
The indictment was returned June 24 and signed by Prosecutor Coffina. Crawley pled not guilty during an arraignment in Superior Court earlier this week. He is presently lodged in the Burlington County Jail in Mount Holly awaiting trial.
Crawley’s co-defendant, Danielle Knight, 42, of Wrightstown, has pled guilty to Strict Liability for Drug-Induced Death (First Degree) and is awaiting sentencing. She has been released on her own recognizance.
The investigation began on August 19, 2019, after Brittney Wallace, 27, was found unconscious and unresponsive by her parents in the bathroom at the family’s residence. She was taken to Capital Health at Deborah – Emergency Services, where she was later pronounced dead.
An autopsy performed by Burlington County Medical Examiner Dr. Ian Hood determined that Wallace died of fentanyl toxicity. The fentanyl level in her system was more than five times the lethal dose. The investigation revealed that Knight instructed Crawley to deliver drugs to Wallace at her residence.
Crawley was also indicted last month in a separate case with two co-defendants on drug possession charges stemming from an incident where an officer found heroin and cocaine in their vehicle during a traffic stop early last year in New Hanover Township.
Crawley and Knight are being prosecuted by Assistant Prosecutor Jeremy Lackey. The case was investigated by detectives from the Pemberton Township Police Department, with assistance from the Prosecutor’s Office Gang, Gun and Narcotics Task Force and K-9 Officer Ringo from the Burlington County Sheriff’s Department. The lead investigator is Pemberton Township Detective Joshua Danka.
An indictment is an accusation. Defendants are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty.