Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina announced that a drug dealer from the Browns Mills section of Pemberton Township pled guilty today in Superior Court to causing the death of a customer by supplying the fentanyl-laced heroin that led to her fatal overdose early last year.
Under an agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office, Terrance D. Walker, 38, of Liberty Street, pled guilty to Strict Liability for Drug-Induced Death (First Degree) in exchange for eight years in New Jersey state prison.
The Hon. Philip E. Haines, J.S.C., scheduled sentencing for October 30.
The investigation began in May 2019 after Tessa McCullough, 21, was taken to a Mount Holly hospital and pronounced dead following an overdose in her Pemberton Township home.
An autopsy performed by Burlington County Medical Examiner Dr. Ian Hood determined that her death was due to fentanyl toxicity. The investigation revealed the drugs that led to her fatal overdose were purchased from Walker.
Walker has been in the Burlington County Jail in Mount Holly since being taken into custody at a Maple Shade motel in October 2019 by the Burlington County Sheriff’s Department Warrant Unit, the U.S. Marshals Service New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force and the Pemberton Township Police Department.
He is being prosecuted by Assistant Prosecutor Jeremy Lackey.
The case was investigated by the Pemberton Township Police Department, the BCPO Gang, Gun and Narcotics Task Force and the BCPO High-Tech Crimes Unit, with assistance from the Mount Holly Township Police Department and Mount Laurel Police Department.