Antonio Larvell Thomas, Jr. of Chicago was sentenced on May 17 to 294 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance resulting in death. He was ordered to serve five years of supervised release following his prison term and immediately pay a $100 special assessment to the Crime Victims’ Fund.
According to court documents, in 2019 law enforcement began an investigation into Thomas for his involvement in a heroin and methamphetamine conspiracy operating in the Quad Cities area. Multiple controlled buys were conducted where Thomas arranged to distribute fentanyl purported to be heroin to a cooperating individual. Thomas was associated with multiple drug and gun seizures conducted by law enforcement. On January 5, 2020, Thomas’s girlfriend was found unresponsive in a Davenport hotel room she shared with Thomas. She was pronounced dead, and an autopsy revealed she died of a fentanyl overdose. The fentanyl she ingested belonged to Thomas. He was arrested and found to be in possession of additional fentanyl. On December 18, 2020, he pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge and admitted that death resulted from the fentanyl he was distributing.
U.S. Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The matter was investigated by the Bettendorf Police Department, Davenport Police Department, Scott County Sheriff’s Office, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa prosecuted the case.