Woman pleads guilty to dealing fentanyl pills in Cornelius area where students died
A Lake Norman woman who dealt pills laced with fentanyl pleaded guilty Monday to possession with intent to sell a schedule II substance in Mecklenburg County Superior Court.
Tina Marie Alexander, 46, will serve between 6 ½ years and 10 years in prison and was ordered to pay a fine of $100,000.
The Cornelius Police Department arrested Alexander in June of 2023 at a home near Lake Norman where officers found that she and 21-year-old Matthew Christian Dominguez distributed 988 fentanyl pills, 17 grams of methamphetamine and 2 grams of psychedelic mushrooms.
Alexander was arrested in the same area where several students at Hough High School unknowingly took pills with fentanyl in them. And some parents have pointed to Alexander as the main dealer.
Alexander and Dominguez were charged with trafficking and conspiring to traffic opium and with possession of drug paraphernalia. Alexander was held in the Mecklenburg jail on a $1 million bond for more than a year before a plea hearing on Monday.
In addition to her prison sentence, Superior Court Judge David H. Strickland also sentenced Alexander to serve a suspended prison sentence of six to 17 months, followed by 24 months of supervised probation. This means that she could serve more time if she violates probation.
Assistant District Attorney Lydia Butts said in court Monday that students at Hough High named Alexander as a drug supplier.
In July 2023, a little more than a week after Alexander’s arrest, 17-year-old Laird Ramirez was found dead from a pill that contained fentanyl. Laird attended Hough High where at least least eight students had been taking pills they thought were Percocets.
One pill with fentanyl in it — about 2 milligrams — is enough to kill a person.
In a statement in court, Alexander said she was sorry for any of the harm she may have caused.
Laird’s mother, Gwyneth Brown, attended Alexander’s hearing alongside other family members. Brown stood in the courtroom after the judge gave her an opportunity to make a statement and said that she continues to have nightmares about Laird’s death.
Brown said in an interview after the hearing that state officials aren’t as tough on drug dealers as they should be.
Brown told the Observer that it was important for her to attend the hearing. She wanted to confront Alexander. She said she’s not satisfied with Alexander’s sentencing. The amount of time she has to serve isn’t enough, Brown said.
Tamara Ellestad also spoke during the hearing. Her daughter, Olivia Moroney, died in September of 2022 from a blue pill that was laced with fentanyl. Moroney thought she was taking Percocet, Ellestad told the court.
Moroney’s death is something Ellestad and the rest of the family will have to live with forever. Ellestad told the Observer. She said it was difficult for her to answer whether or not she’s satisfied with the sentencing.
On one hand, she thinks it has served its purpose. But she also hopes that more instances of dealers selling fentanyl will be stopped across the state.
Ellestad said that regardless of what happens in a courtroom, it won’t compensate for the death of a child.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
This story was originally published July 8, 2024 at 5:55 PM.
