Drug trafficker pleads guilty to woman’s death after she dies from a drug overdose
By Terrance Kelly
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ROME, Georgia (WGCL) — A Rome, Ga. man is awaiting federal sentencing in connection to selling heroin that caused a woman to overdose.
According to a spokesperson in the U.S. Attorney’s office, Floyd County police officers responded to a 9-1-1 medical call on July 6, 2018. When officers arrived, they found a 25-year-old woman needing medical attention. The woman died of a heroin overdose later that night, a spokesperson said in a press release.
Investigators determined Shane Terhune, 41, of Rome, sold heroin to the woman and her fiance earlier that afternoon. Terhune gave the woman a plastic bag containing heroin in exchange for cash, officials said. The woman injected the heroin Terhune sold to her, causing her death.
During a federal court appearance, Terhune pleaded guilty to the crime.
At his plea, Terhune, who federal authorities said has a history of drug trafficking, admitted to trafficking heroin and acknowledged that the heroin he sold caused the woman’s death.
In April, CBS46 reported federal agents shut down a massive drug pipeline that ran from Mexico to Georgia.
“Terhune’s act of trafficking narcotics tragically ended the life of a young woman,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine. “Opioid overdoses will be investigated as a federal priority and those who sell this poison will be held accountable for the death and serious injury that it causes.”
“The life of a young lady abruptly ended when Shane Terhune provided her with a deadly dose of heroin. DEA and its law enforcement partners are committing to bringing to justice, defendants like Mr. Terhune who pollute our streets with dangerous and deadly substances which cause immeasurable damage to our communities,” said Robert J. Murphy, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division.
Terhune’s federal sentencing is scheduled in October 2021.
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