CLEVELAND – Devonte L. Fellows, 26, of Cleveland, Ohio, was sentenced on Thursday, June 30, 2022, to more than 27 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Donald C. Nugent after his conviction at trial of distributing fentanyl that led to the death of a Cuyahoga Falls individual.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, in April 2019, detectives with the Cuyahoga Falls Police Department began an investigation into the overdose death of an individual found unresponsive in a Cuyahoga Falls residence. During the investigation, authorities recovered from the residence a substance that contained fentanyl.
The Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office performed a full autopsy of the victim and determined that the cause of death was acute fentanyl toxicity. Court records state that investigators later determined that Defendant Devonte L. Fellows knowingly and intentionally distributed the fentanyl to the victim, who later ingested it, overdosed and died.
A federal jury convicted Fellows in March 2022 of one count of distribution of fentanyl, which contained a sentencing enhancement due to the death of an individual resulting from the distribution of the controlled substance.
This investigation was conducted by the Cuyahoga Falls Police Department and the FBI. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Peter E. Daly and Christopher J. Joyce.