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Read the original article on the Raleigh News and Observer website.

A North Carolina man whose distribution of fentanyl contributed to a fatal overdose in a Cary hotel has been sentenced to 16 years in federal prison, the Department of Justice announced Friday.

Keymon Leahke Cofield, 25, of Vance County pleaded guilty in April to distributing fentanyl and heroin, along with possession with intent to distribute. The investigation that led to his arrest began on June 13, 2020, when Cary police responding to a suspected overdose at a local hotel found a 35-year-old man dead with 50 bindles of suspected fentanyl and heroin, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina said.

Officials traced the fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, to Cofield, who was 20 at the time. They determined he had traveled south from the small city of Henderson to Cary to sell drugs. An undercover investigation that summer culminated in Cofield’s arrest. Authorities seized 651 bindles of suspected fentanyl and heroin, and a search of Cofield’s phone showed photos of firearms and large amounts of cash.

The Department of Justice listed Cofield’s nicknames as “Keymoney” and “Boi Fat.”

Cary and North Carolina overall have seen increases in opioid incidents this century. Statewide, opioid overdose fatalities rose 800% between 1999 and 2016 — from around 100 deaths to 1,300. Cary reported 11 on-the-scene opioid overdose deaths in 2017 and the same number in 2020, the year of Cofield’s arrest. In 2018, Cary launched an Opioid Wastewater Project pilot program that sought to measure opioid consumption not by overdoses but by the concentration of opioids in sewage samples. Ten locations around the town of 170,000 were selected.

Town officials sought a new gauge for opioid use after observing deliveries of Narcan — a medication that can reverse the impacts of opioid overdoses — exceeded actual reports of overdoses.

In 2022, Cary reported 118 opioid-related incidents, a higher total than in any of the previous five years. That year, Cary received $928,360 from the North Carolina Department of Justice as part of national settlement agreements with opioid companies.