NEWS RELEASE
COVINGTON, Ky. — A Crittenden, Ky., woman has been sentenced to 224 months in federal prison for providing illegal drugs to her daughter, an inmate in the Kenton County Jail, who subsequently died of an overdose.
Today, U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar sentenced Kimberly Mullins, 44, for conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and morphine that resulted in an overdose death. Two co-defendants, Lisa Lattimore and Lynette Ball, received 160 and 144 months, respectively, for their roles in the conspiracy. Under federal law, all three must serve at least 85 percent of their prison sentences. A fourth defendant, Michael Howard, who supplied the drugs to Mullins, has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
Mullins, Lattimore, and Ball admitted that, on September 4, 2015, they conspired to bring illegal drugs into the Kenton County Jail. Mullins bought what she thought was heroin from Howard that day; but the substance actually contained a combination of fentanyl and morphine. Mullins arranged for the substance to be delivered to her daughter, Jamie Green, through co-defendants Ball and Lattimore, fellow inmates in the Kenton County Jail.
During the early morning hours of September 5, 2015, Green took the substance and died of an overdose shortly thereafter. Mullins admitted that she had been regularly arranging deliveries of heroin to her daughter, while her daughter was incarcerated.
Mullins, Lattimore, and Ball pleaded guilty on March 29, 2016. Two other individuals, Mabry Baioni and Heather Tucker, were later charged and pleaded guilty to conspiring with Howard and Mullins to distribute heroin to Green, while Green was in the Campbell County Detention Center. Baioni and Tucker did not take part in the Kenton County events that led to Green’s death.
Kerry B. Harvey, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Timothy J. Plancon, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration, jointly announced the sentences. The investigation was conducted by the Cincinnati Field Office of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Kenton County Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony Bracke represents the federal government in this case.
Howard is scheduled to be sentenced on September 23, 2016. He faces up to life in prison and a fine of $1,000,000.00. Any sentence, however, will be imposed by the Court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statutes.