ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Sterling man was sentenced today to 15 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute more than a kilogram of heroin that led to at least two fatal overdoses and one non-fatal overdose.

According to court documents, Nedrick Lamont Johnson, 42, led a heroin conspiracy that distributed narcotics in Loudoun and Fairfax counties. Johnson and five co-conspirators obtained heroin from sources in Baltimore and the District of Columbia. Johnson personally repackaged the narcotics for street-level sales and arranged transactions with users. Then, he directed his co-conspirators to deliver the heroin, collect the payments, and return the earnings to him. In other instances, Johnson’s co-conspirators arranged their own drugs sales using heroin that he had supplied.

In March 2018, Johnson personally distributed $400 of heroin to a buyer, referred to as L.R., at her home in Herndon. During this transaction, Johnson observed that L.R. was highly-impaired, but nonetheless sold her the drugs. L.R. was found dead in her home two days later. She had died of mixed drug intoxication.

In January 2019, Johnson distributed fentanyl to one of his co-conspirators to sell to a customer. The customer ingested these drugs, overdosed, and then drove their car into a parked vehicle in Sterling. Loudoun County deputies revived this customer through CPR and administration of Narcan.

In February 2019, Johnson distributed fentanyl to one of his co-conspirators to sell to a user. That customer, referred to as K.P., ingested the narcotics along with other drugs that he had obtained from a second source. K.P. died shortly thereafter of mixed drug intoxication.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Jesse R. Fong, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division; and Michael L. Chapman, Loudoun County Sheriff, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga. Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc J. Birnbaum prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:19-cr-137.