Man Sold Fentanyl That Caused Overdose Death Of Plainfield Woman In Her Family's Home

PLAINFIELD, NJ — A Somerset man admitted to distributing fentanyl and heroin that led to the overdose death of a Plainfield woman, U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer announced.

Thomas Kane Miller, 41, pleaded guilty Tuesday to three counts of distribution and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and heroin. He is facing more than 20 years in prison at sentencing, which will be in September.

According to the criminal complaint, at 1:15 p.m. October 30, 2022, police responded to a home in Plainfield after receiving a 911 call from a family member reporting an unconscious woman.

Family members had found the woman in a third-floor bedroom, unconscious and with a belt tied around her left arm. EMTs responded and she was pronounced dead at the scene. She was 51 years old.

Law enforcement found two wax folds in the bedroom, containing a powdery substance later confirmed to be a mix of fentanyl and heroin. Both wax folds were stamped “Black Caesar” in blue ink. An autopsy later revealed her cause of death was acute fentanyl intoxication.

Miller admitted to selling that fentanyl and heroin mixture. Ten days before the woman died, Miller was stopped by police in North Brunswick, and police found wax folds on heroin/fentanyl in his car, identically stamped "Black Caesar" in the same blue ink.

After the woman died, police searched her iPhone and found Miller’s phone number stored there as “Kane,” which is Miller’s middle name. Police found many text messages between Miller and the woman on Oct. 29, the day before she died, and he also called her the morning that she died. You can read their text messages here, which show them arranging to meet for a drug sale.

Miller also distributed fentanyl and heroin throughout Somerset and Middlesex counties on two other occasions in December 2022 and January 2023, said federal prosecutors.