Man who sold deadly fentanyl to 17-year-old is first convicted of murder in Tarrant County
A 19-year-old Azle man has become the first defendant in Tarrant County to be sentenced to prison under the new Texas law that allows prosecutors to charge suspects with murder in certain fentanyl deaths.
Kaeden Farish pleaded guilty on Tuesday, Oct. 22, to murder and was sentenced to 19 years in prison, the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
On Jan. 20, Farish sold fentanyl-laced pills to 17-year-old Dustin Anderton, who overdosed and died in Bedford, according to court records.
The case was investigated by the Mid-Cities Drug Task Force and the Bedford Police Department.
This conviction is the first in Tarrant County under the new state law, which allows murder charges for defendants who manufacture or deal fentanyl that causes a death. The law took effect in September 2023.
“We are working hard to get the people who sell this poison off the streets,” Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells said in the release.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is available in many forms, including pills, powder, nasal sprays and eye drops, the DA’s Office said. Two milligrams of fentanyl, an amount the size of a few grains of table salt, can be deadly, prosecutors said. The drug is cheap to make, and dealers sometimes substitute it for other types of opioids.
October is Fentanyl Poisoning Awareness Month.
Sorrells created a new unit in his office last year to focus on narcotics cases that involve fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs.
“We will continue to go after those who seek to profit from this deadly drug,” Sorrells said. “You make it or deal it to someone who dies, we’ll charge you with murder.”
This story was originally published October 24, 2024 at 11:37 AM.
