ST CHARLES, Mo. — A Maryland Heights man was indicted by federal prosecutors after police said he sold a St. Charles County woman the drugs that resulted in her death last month.
Valentino Terex Carpenter, 37, was indicted on a charge of possession and distribution of fentanyl.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney Sayler Fleming of the Eastern District of Missouri, Carpenter sold two capsuled containing suspected fentanyl to the woman at her apartment on Lindenwood Avenue on the morning of June 21.
St. Charles police said three hours after he sold the capsules to her for $10, he sent her a text warning her not to ingest a whole capsule and added “you almost died last night.”
At around 7:40 that night, neighbors heard screaming at the home coming from the woman's three children, whose ages were 4, 2 and 2 months. When the neighbors got into the house, they found the woman dead on the couch and her three children confined to a bedroom by a baby gate.
The press release said the kids may have been in the room alone for as many as 20 hours after their mother died.
The press release said police found one capsule at the home that tested positive for fentanyl and they found Facebook messages from the woman to Carpenter saying she wanted to buy fentanyl.
The children are now being cared for by family members.
Carpenter could face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million.
