One of the main targets of a federal crackdown on heroin dealers in response to a spike in overdoses in Washington County admitted Friday that he sold heroin that killed a 35-year-old man whose mother found him dead in her Charleroi home.
Tristin Axton, 19, of Charleroi, pleaded guilty to possession of heroin with intent to distribute and took responsibility for the death of Anthony Terrant on Aug. 16, 2015.
He faces five years in federal prison.
After he pleaded, Axton turned to Mr. Terrant's mother in the gallery, Diane Terrant, and apologized for his death and all the harm he has caused in the Monongahela Valley. U.S. marshals then led him away.
Mrs. Terrant, a mother of six who wore a shirt commemorating her son, said she knew Anthony, a father of three, had been a long-time crack cocaine user but did not know he had been using heroin.
"He promised me he would not use it," she said. "I just never thought he was on it."
She said he had cleaned himself up and was living with her while working construction. The night before he died, he had asked her to get him up for work the next day. When she went to his room, she found him dead in his bed.
"I was happy when they caught this kid," she said.
The U.S. attorney's office said Axton had been dealing as a juvenile, leaving school during the day to sell to adults in the Mon Valley. His heroin, labeled "Made in Columbia" and "Black Jack," caused many overdoses in Washington County. Stamp bags with the "Black Jack" label were found at the scene of Anthony Terrant's death.
Federal agents and police said Axton sold the heroin to another individual, who then sold it to Mr. Terrant. His mother said she didn't know Axton or the other person.
"It's just terrible what these kids are doing," she said.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration arrested Axton on Sept. 20, 2016, while selling a brick of heroin.
"Axton's cell phones were seized during the investigation and they contain significant evidence showing that he was a significant supplier of heroin in the Mon Valley area," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Ross Lenhardt, "and that he continued to distribute drugs even after learning that stamp bags he sold resulted in overdoses and deaths."
U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon will sentence him Feb. 28.
First Published: November 17, 2017, 8:40 p.m.
