NEWPORT, N.H. — A 38-year-old Meredith, N.H., man was indicted this month on charges he sold opiates to a man who later died from an overdose, according to a news release from Newport police.
John Fortune pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to sell a controlled drug and sale of a controlled drug with death resulting during a bail hearing in Sullivan Superior Court on May 21. The latter charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison if Fortune is convicted.
Fortune, who was out on bail for an unrelated domestic violence charge out of Belknap County at the time of the alleged drug sale, was ordered held without bail during his hearing in Sullivan County, according to court documents.
The charges stem from a call Newport police received on May 2, when they found Christopher Wilson, 38, dead from a drug overdose at an apartment on Hale Street in Newport, according to the release.
During the investigation, police spoke with a person who had been with Wilson during the overdose, and who agreed to be a confidential informant for investigators, according to an affidavit written by New Hampshire Drug Task Force Detective Shawn Seymour.
The informant, whom police did not name in court documents, said she and Wilson had bought heroin or fentanyl from Fortune earlier that day and that Wilson started overdosing “immediately” after they took the drugs that afternoon, the affidavit said. The informant agreed to take an undercover police officer and meet Fortune for another drug deal later that day, according to police.
When police and the informant called Fortune, he confirmed that he had sold Wilson drugs earlier that day, the affidavit said. Around midnight an undercover officer and the informant met Fortune, who “seemed nervous” about the deal but sold the informant a bag of something that “appeared to be similar in color” to the drugs police found at the Newport apartment earlier that day, according to the affidavit.
Investigators sent the drugs for testing and are waiting for results, according to Newport police chief Brent Wilmot.
Police arrested Fortune when he came into the Ashland Police Department for a meeting with his probation officer the week after the overdose.
A future court date for Fortune has not been set. Police said they plan to make more arrests related to the case but did not indicate the charges or names of other suspects.
Newport police wrote that anyone with information is encouraged to contact Detective Stephen Lee at 603-863-3240 or slee@newportnh.gov.
Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.