One died after overdosing on heroin while on her way to board a flight at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. The other died from a fentanyl overdose while partying with friends.
The two deaths have resulted in criminal cases being pursued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta, where prosecutors are seeking tougher sentences for alleged dealers whose drug sales led to fatal overdoses. Those convicted will face sentences of at least 20 years and up to life in prison.
The cases are part of the Trump Administration's crackdown on those who contribute to the opioid epidemic. The U.S. Attorney's Office here recently put about 30 doctors on notice that they have been identified for prescribing opioids in significantly greater quantities or doses than their peers. It is also seeking more severe punishment against drug dealers found to have sold heroin, fentanyl or opioids that caused fatal or near-fatal overdoses.
“Something has to be done to stop this vicious cycle,” said Christy Coffman, whose son, Taylor Coffman, 24, died of a fentanyl overdose on Oct. 3, 2017. “All these kids have been dropping like flies. Somebody has to be held accountable.”
Federal prosecutors obtained indictments against two men — Edward Culton, 25, and Hubert Nathans, 29 — for Coffman's overdose. Culton allegedly supplied Nathans with hundreds of fake Roxicodone pills. The blue pills were imprinted with "M30," making them closely resemble legitimate 30-milligram Roxicodone tablets, court records show. But they actually contained fentanyl, a far more potent and potentially lethal substance.
After Nathan got the counterfeit pills from Culton, he sold some to Coffman, who was living in Milton with his parents at the time, according to court filings. While Coffman was celebrating at an Atlanta apartment with friends, he overdosed.
“I honestly believe he didn’t know there was fentanyl in the pill, because if he did I know he wouldn’t have taken it,” said Coffman’s former girlfriend, Allison Guitrau, 25, of Baton Rouge. “That wasn’t like Taylor at all. It was very shocking that it happened.”
If convicted, Culton faces at least 20 years behind bars and up to life in prison. He is scheduled to stand trial later this year.
Nathans sent flowers and even attended Coffman’s funeral, both Coffman’s mother and girlfriend said. After being indicted, Nathans was told he faced a mandatory life sentence because he had prior drug distribution convictions. Last month, he pleaded guilty and is cooperating with prosecutors to get reduced prison time.
“This counterfeit ‘pill peddler’ was a menace to society,” Robert Murphy, the DEA’s special agent in charge, said after Nathans’ plea. “Purchasing pills on the street is synonymous to playing Russian roulette, as there’s no quality control or efficacy in the process.”
Federal public defender Regina Cannon, who represents Nathans, said her client truly regrets his actions.
“It’s a tragic story,” Cannon said. “My heart goes out to the family of the young man who died. My client is incredibly sad about what happened and is tremendously remorseful.”
Before the overdose, Coffman had been working for his family’s land-grading business.
“He was so sweet and nice,” Guitrau said. “He never met a stranger and always seemed to have a smile on his face. When I fell in love with him, I was never going to let him go. I still think about him every day.”
Culton, who has pleaded not guilty to drug conspiracy and fentanyl distribution charges, supplied Nathans with fentanyl pills that caused another overdose this past January, but the woman survived, court records say. When authorities executed a search warrant at Culton’s Buckhead apartment in February, they seized more than 900 of the blue fentanyl-laced pills, according to court filings.
Six months before Coffman’s fatal overdose, Kristin Suhr, a 33-year-old ophthalmologist, collapsed at the T-Gate Concourse at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. She was about to board a flight on her way back home to New York. She was taken to WellStar Atlanta Medical Center South, where she was pronounced dead the following morning. A GBI autopsy declared the cause of death as “heroin toxicity.”
Suhr had been staying at the Hyatt Atlanta Midtown while attending an Emory University executive program that offers master's-level public health degrees. According to court records, Suhr began texting and calling Donquell Weddington on April 5, 2017, about purchasing some drugs.
On the morning of April 10, 2017, Suhr and Weddington exchanged numerous phone calls and then met up near the Cascade Springs Nature Preserve in southwest Atlanta, prosecutors said. Suhr then returned to the Hyatt, checked out of her hotel and went to her therapist’s office in Buckhead.
Credit: Fulton County Sheriff's Office
Credit: Fulton County Sheriff's Office
At about 1:30 p.m., Suhr collapsed in the lobby of her therapist’s building. Paramedics found her barely breathing, her mouth turning blue. They raced her to Piedmont Hospital where she was treated for a heroin overdose. After being released that evening, Suhr went to Hartsfield-Jackson where she overdosed a second time — this one fatal, according to court records.
Weddington, 26, has pleaded not guilty to heroin distribution charges. Federal prosecutors have filed a court motion documenting Weddington’s prior Fulton County convictions for possession with the intent to distribute heroin, cocaine and marijuana. For those 2015 offenses, Weddington received five years on probation.
Because of those prior convictions, he now faces a mandatory life sentence if convicted of selling the heroin that caused Suhr’s fatal overdose.
Nazgol Ghandnoosh, a senior research analyst with the Washington-based Sentencing Project, questioned the need for such harsh punishment. She noted that one lesson learned from past wars on drugs is that drug dealers are easily replaced and not deterred by tough sentences because the don’t expect to be caught.
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“On a broader policy level, dedicating public resources to lengthy prison terms for drug sellers diverts focus and funding away from the more effective response to the opioid crisis: ensuring that people have access to effective drug treatment,” she said.
But Guitrau, Taylor Coffman’s former girlfriend, believes the prosecutions are necessary. “If we can keep these deaths from happening to any other parent or friend, that would be great to me,” she said.
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