Heroin Dealer Admits He Sold Dose to User Who Died

A Gaithersburg man admitted in federal court Wednesday that he sold heroin two years ago that caused the buyer to die of an overdose.

The admission was part of the guilty plea made by Nathaniel Wright Jr., 58, to charges of conspiring to distribute and possession with intent to distribute heroin, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland. In his plea agreement, from at least June 2013 until his arrest in April, Wright said he sold heroin to multiple addicts, who would purchase between one-half to two grams per week.

On June 14, 2013, Wright sold an unidentified individual a gram of heroin for $100, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. After ingesting the heroin that evening, the individual “died as a result of alcohol and narcotic intoxication,” the statement said.

Wright also admitted that on 16 occasions, he sold a total of 22 grams of heroin to two confidential sources. Overall, he distributed between 400 and 700 grams of heroin, prosecutors said.

Wright faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. He’s scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 1 by Judge Theodore Chuang in the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt.

Two others have also pleaded guilty to participating in the heroin ring: Ronald Bryant, 46, of Montgomery Village; and Carlos Brandon Peoples, 29, of Washington, D.C. Peoples is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 2 and Bryant on Dec. 21, prosecutors said.