GREAT FALLS — A Great Falls man who admitted to distributing methamphetamine and fentanyl to a person who died of an overdose was sentenced today to 14 years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Leif M. Johnson said.
Kent Fox, 48, pleaded guilty in October 2021 to distribution of controlled substances resulting in death.
Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided. Chief Judge Morris also ordered $815 restitution.
The government alleged in court documents that on Aug. 23, 2020, Great Falls police were dispatched to a camper trailer and found a male, identified as John Doe, deceased. Fox was on the scene, was friends with John Doe, had last seen him two days earlier and had gone to check on him. Fox found John Doe deceased. The government further alleged that two days earlier, Fox helped arranged a drug deal between his co-defendant, Brandie Rae Fulbright, and John Doe. As part of the deal, Fox received a semiautomatic rifle and John Doe received meth and two blue pills, identified as fentanyl. An autopsy determined that Doe died from an overdose of a combination of meth and fentanyl, which were the same substances recovered from John Doe’s trailer. Fulbright has pleaded guilty to charges in the case and is awaiting sentencing.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey K. Starnes prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the FBI and Great Falls Police Department.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a U.S. Department of Justice initiative to reduce violent crime. Through PSN, federal, tribal, state and local law enforcement partners in Montana focus on violent crime driven by methamphetamine trafficking, armed robbers, firearms offenses and violent offenders with outstanding warrants.
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