Vineland Man Receives 12-Year-Prison Term in Connection With Strict Liability Drug-Induced Death

Photo provided

On January 30, 2023, Freddie W. Smith, 44, of Vineland was sentenced in Atlantic County Superior Court to one count of first-degree strict liability for causing the drug-induced death of an 18-year-old local man.

Smith pled guilty in Atlantic County Superior Court to one count of first-degree strict liability for causing a drug-induced death on November 28, 2022. He admitted he sold drugs containing fentanyl which killed an 18-year-old local man.

Smith was sentenced to 12 years in New Jersey State Prison with a mandatory period of parole ineligibility of 10 years and 2 months. He will also be subject a five-year term of parole supervision upon his release from prison.

The Buena Vista Criminal Investigation Office of the New Jersey State Police led the investigation, which revealed the decedent had gone to a Wawa in Vineland at some point during the evening of March 11 into March 12, 2020.

In the parking lot, Smith sold the drugs containing fentanyl to the decedent, who was found dead in the early morning hours on a couch in his family home.

Toxicology testing of the decedent’s blood determined he died from fentanyl and cocaine, and a search warrant was later executed on Smith’s home where law enforcement recovered drug packaging paraphernalia, fentanyl, and cocaine.

The case was prosecuted by Chief Assistant Prosecutor Allison Eiselen and Assistant Prosecutor Chris D’Esposito of the Gangs, Guns, and Narcotics Unit of the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office.