News

Michigan man sent to prison for role in overdose deaths

By Bill Moss, Published: January 17, 2017

A Michigan man was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty in Henderson County Superior Court to his role in the drug overdose deaths of two men at a Hendersonville hotel last February.

Randy Nead of Pullman, Mich., pleaded guilty to two charges of involuntary manslaughter. Judge Alan Z. Thornburg sentenced him to two consecutive prison sentences totaling 58 months. Nead must serve 32 months of that sentence before parole can be considered.

Nead is accused of providing heroin to two men staying at the Mountain Inn and Suites on Feb. 12, John Matthew Tucker Jr. and Leonard Paul Lefford, Jr., both of Arkansas. Tucker was working for a pipeline company and Lefford was with him in hopes of obtaining employment from the same company, the district attorney's office said. When Tucker failed to show for work, a co-worker went to his motel room to check on him. It was at this time that the bodies of both Tucker and Lefford was located. They had been dead for several hours. The autopsies of both men stated that the cause of death was “heroin toxicity.”

The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation, determined in their investigation that the heroin consumed by both Tucker and Lefford was sent overnight by FedEx from a location in Allegan, Mich. It was further determined that Nead was responsible for sending the deadly narcotics to Tucker and Lefford in Hendersonville. Text messages show Tucker instructed Nead to hide the drugs inside a valentine shaped candy box for shipping. The valentine shaped candy box was found in the motel room of the dead men.

Nead was arrested in the state of Indiana on June 1 and subsequently brought to the Henderson County jail. He will now be transferred to the NC prison system.

“My position is that persons who distribute illegal drugs must own the consequences of their actions,” said District Attorney Greg Newman. “We are witnessing more opiate and heroin related deaths in our area and I intend to prosecute the individuals who make these inherently dangerous drugs available to anyone. Illegal narcotics destroy families and damage communities. These are not so-called ‘victimless’ crimes. Just ask any mother or father who has a daughter or son struggling with addictions and they will agree with me that there are many people adversely impacted by narcotic distribution and use. I appreciate the dedication by our police and sheriff’s department to aggressively investigate these cases so that the drug dealers can be prosecuted and held accountable."