Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina and Maple Shade Police Chief Christopher Fletcher announced that a Camden drug dealer has been arrested on charges of causing the death of a customer to whom he sold fentanyl-laced cocaine earlier this year.
Marquese Smith, 22, of the 2400 block of Baird Boulevard, was charged with one count of Strict Liability for Drug-Induced Death (First Degree). Smith, who was taken into custody yesterday, was lodged in the Burlington County Jail in Mount Holly pending a detention hearing in Superior Court later this week.
The case will now be prepared for presentation to a Burlington County Grand Jury for possible indictment.
The investigation began on June 1, 2019 when officers from the Maple Shade Police Department responded to the Ryan Run West Apartment Complex and discovered the body of a 33-year-old woman who had fatally overdosed.
The Burlington County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded the cause of death was cocaine and fentanyl toxicity.
The investigation determined that the drugs that caused her death had been purchased from Smith. He was arrested without incident in Camden by the Maple Shade Police Department, Burlington County Sheriff’s Department Warrant Unit and the U.S. Marshals Service New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Prosecutor Jeremy Lackey. The investigation was conducted by the Maple Shade Police Department and the BCPO Gang, Gun and Narcotics Task Force.
This is the second drug-induced death arrest the BCPO has announced within the last week.
Terrance D. Walker, 37, of Pemberton Township, was arrested October 16 and charged with causing the death of a 21-year-old woman by supplying the fentanyl-laced heroin that led to her fatal overdose earlier this year.
All persons are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.