A Mercer County drug dealer can expect to serve five years in prison for supplying the fentanyl that killed a 25-year-old in Bordentown on Thanksgiving Day, 2016.

Thao Nguyen (Burlington Co. Dept. of Corrections)
Thao Nguyen (Burlington Co. Dept. of Corrections)
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The sentence for Thao Nguyen, 27, of Hamilton, is entailed in his guilty plea to a first-degree count of strict liability for a drug-induced death, according to the office of Burlington County Prosecutor Scott A. Coffina.

Nguyen has been in the Burlington County Jail since his April 7 arrest, which ensued after a search of his dwelling.

Investigators determined that Nguyen sold the synthetic opiate to the victim, who died in his house on November 24, 2016. Autopsy results listed the cause of death as tentanyl toxicity.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that fentanyl, used in pain patches and other prescription remedies, is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine in its unadulterated form. It is nearly always fatal.

Burlington County Assistant Prosecutor Jeremy Lackey presented the county's case, from evidence developed by Bordentown Police led by Detective Josh Pavlov, the Hamilton Township PD Tactical Team, the Burlington County Prosecutor's High-Tech Crimes Unit and Gang, Gun and Narcotics Task Force, and the Mercer County Prosecutor's Narcotics Task Force.

Charges are accusations. Defendants are presumed innocent unless, and until, found guilty in a court of law.

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