Man convicted in overdose death

May 20—A man accused of being one of the links in a chain of drug overdose deaths in Caldwell County will spend at least five years in prison for selling drugs that caused a 48-year-old Hickory man to overdose and die.

Dorian Roshad Ferguson, 34, was one of several people charged after a series of fatal overdoses in 2017 that were linked to cyclopropyl fentanyl, a chemically altered version of fentanyl, a powerful and potentially deadly opiate, Assistant District Attorney Andrew Jennings said in Caldwell Superior Court on Thursday.

Ferguson and others were buying the drugs, which were at times referred to as "gray death heroin," from Javares Lawarren Walker, 42, of Crestview Drive in Charlotte, and selling them in Caldwell County.

Ferguson was named during a previous court hearing as one of the first to go to Charlotte to meet with Walker, whom investigators have called a "major source" of both cyclopropyl fentanyl and methamphetamine to Caldwell County.

Ferguson was accused of selling the drugs to Michael "Todd" Hollar, who overdosed on cyclopropyl fentanyl at a home on Ransom Place on Aug. 3, 2017.

Jennings said that investigators searched Ferguson's phone and found text messages between Ferguson and a woman named Jessica Bowman, who was with Hollar when he overdosed.

In the texts, Bowman asked to buy heroin from Ferguson. She and Hollar were staying at someone's home, and Ferguson asked in a text for the address.

Investigators maintain that Hollar overdosed on the drugs that Ferguson sold them. When he did, Bowman called another man to try to help revive him, but she did not call 911. Bowman left with the man she called, taking Hollar's wallet, phone and credit cards, and she eventually threw his personal items in a dumpster, Jennings said. The man she was with called 911 hours later to report Hollar's death, Jennings said.

When Hollar's phone was found, it was badly broken, and investigators were unable to recover the messages on it.

Ferguson admitted to investigators that he took the drugs to Bowman, but he maintains that it was only Bowman he sold to, not Hollar.

Still, Bowman texted Ferguson afterward and told him, "Todd is dead," Jennings said.

Investigators also found that Ferguson had searched on the web for the term, "gray death."

Ferguson also was accused of selling drugs to undercover informants who turned him in to law enforcement.

Hollar's blood was found in lab tests to contain cyclopropyl fentanyl and methamphetamine, as well as other drugs, Jennings said.

Ferguson's attorney, Charles Bostian, said that Ferguson was addicted to drugs and was selling them to support his habit. He said that Ferguson has admitted from the beginning that he sold drugs to Bowman, but he adamantly denies selling to Hollar.

Bostian pointed out that after Hollar died, the people he was with took his belongings and left, and nobody called 911 until around six hours later.

Bowman also was not charged with anything, Bostian added.

Ferguson pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and two counts of conspiracy to sell and deliver a Schedule I controlled substance.

Ferguson pleaded guilty in June 2018 to possession with intent to sell or deliver a Schedule II controlled substance and to breaking and entering a motor vehicle, and he was sentenced to five to seven years in prison. At that time, he admitted his status as a habitual felon — a charge that can come after three previous felony convictions.

For Ferguson's conviction in Hollar's death, Judge Alan Thornburg sentenced Ferguson to another five to eight years in prison.

The other suppliers named in the drug conspiracy pleaded guilty in 2018 and 2019:

— Kelvis Blake Dula, 24, previously of Gamewell, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the overdose death of a young woman in Lenoir who was found to have cyclopropyl fentanyl in her blood.

— Erica Sierra Haas, 26, of the Cajah's Mountain area pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic heroin or opium in relation to another overdose of a different young woman in Lenoir.

— Debra Haas, 62, Erica Haas' mother, pleaded guilty to con

— spiring to sell or deliver a Schedule I controlled substance in relation to the same overdose death as Erica Haas.

— Nicholas Lopez, 27, of Lenoir, who was dating the overdose victim in the Haas cases, pleaded guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice in relation to the same overdose, and to conspiring to sell or deliver a Schedule I controlled substance.

Reporter Kara Fohner can be reached at 828-610-8721.

Reporter Kara Fohner can be reached at 828-610-8721.

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