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An 18 year-old Delaware County man faces decades in prison after a jury convicted him Thursday of selling fentanyl-laced drugs that resulted in the 2023 overdose deaths of an adult and a juvenile.
According to the Delaware County Prosecutor’s Office, a jury took approximately an hour to convict Jaxon Engle of two Level 1 felony charges related to dealing resulting in death, as well as another felony count of conspiracy to commit dealing in a narcotic drug.
Delaware Circuit Court Judge Judi Calhoun set sentencing for Jan. 14, 2025.
Pursuant to Indiana law, a Level 1 Felony is punishable by 20 – 40 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine and a Level 5 Felony is punishable by 1 – 6 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.
Delaware County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Hoffman said in a news release: “This marks the 10th time a Delaware County jury has found a defendant guilty of Dealing Resulting in Death. Our community, through our jury system, is speaking loud and clear – if you deal drugs and one of your customers dies as result you will be held accountable. A total of 14 people have been convicted of Dealing Resulting in Death in Delaware County: 10 by jury, 2 by bench trials and 2 by guilty pleas. The days of drug dealers preying on the weak and vulnerable are long gone.”
Court documents showed the state filed a petition for waiver of juvenile jurisdiction in Engle’s case.
He was 17 when the alleged incidents took place in July and September 2023, according to court records.
In one incident, Engle was accused of purchasing a computer off Facebook Marketplace with counterfeit $100 bills and selling it to an adult for cash and pressed blue pills, known as “M30s,” which commonly contain fentanyl. He allegedly sold one of the pills to a juvenile in September 2023.
That juvenile was found deceased by his sister the next day and his cause of death was identified as acute fentanyl and cocaine intoxication.
The second incident involved the alleged sale of two M30 pills by Engle to an 18 year-old recent high school graduate in July 2023. That person also died the following day and his cause of death was identified as acute fentanyl intoxication.
Engle admitted to police that he had used M30s himself and almost died from his use of the pills.
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