GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — An alleged DeKalb County drug dealer is behind bars in Gwinnett County, accused of murder even though he may have never stepped across the county line.
The defense attorney for alleged drug dealer and killer Aaron Lewis told Channel 2′s Tony Thomas the case will be very interesting as it works its way through the courts.
“Hopefully, others will be saved,” is how one man, who asked not to be identified, believes this new fentanyl-related murder case will impact the area.
He was close to overdose victim Alexandra Thompson.
“It will take your life if you make a mistake,” he said.
Thompson and Dietrick Dunker are two people named in a new indictment as victims of Lewis.
He was apprehended by authorities last week and faces six counts of murder in all -- three each for the overdose deaths of Thompson and Dunker.
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“We have charged it in different ways. Of course, those charges will all merge,” said Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin Gatson.
Austin Gatson said under one of those theories, Lewis is charged because he used a cellphone to help set up his drug deals. That’s a felony by itself, but while doing that, his customers died from the fentanyl-laced heroin prosecutors say he was slinging.
Sources say Lewis refused to come into Gwinnett County and made his clients come to him in DeKalb County.
“When people look at our county in that fashion, it’s a win for us,” Austin Gatson said.
Fentanyl is a very dangerous drug that can be fatal in even the smallest of doses. Authorities say drug dealers use the drug as a filler and their clients never know the danger.
One man told Thomas that the Thompson family was trying to get her help again when she bought her final hit from Lewis.
“If you find yourself in a predicament and you are getting addicted: Get help, No. 1. Pick the right spot, No. 2, and No. 3, if you find yourself relapsing, go back and get help,” the man said.
Prosecutors in Gwinnett County now have four fentanyl-related overdose murder cases they are taking to court. Cases like this were unheard of just a couple of years ago.
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