Man pleads guilty in woman's fentanyl-overdose death

YOUNGSTOWN — A man pleaded guilty today in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to selling fentanyl to a woman who died in April from an overdose.

Roderick Means, 33, entered his plea before Judge Lou D'Apolito to a charge of involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors are recommending a sentence of five years.

The sentence was agreed on by both defense attorneys and prosecutors.

Assistant Prosecutor Ken Cardinal said Means sold the drugs to an Austintown woman who thought it was heroin but it was instead fentanyl, an opiate-based painkiller more powerful than heroin.

Means claimed he did not know it was fentanyl he was selling. He was caught after drug task force officers used the victim's cellphone to pose as the victim and ask for more drugs. Means was arrested after he showed up and the drug he had with him was fentanyl, Cardinal said.

Means was arrested June 2 after being indicted by a grand jury.