RICHMOND, Va. - A Caroline County man was sentenced today to 20 years in prison for distribution of “scramble", a mixture of fentanyl and heroin, the use of which resulted in an overdose.
“In spite of nearly killing his best friend and the overdose of his wife, Rosie continued to sell dangerously strong drugs," said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “The type of drug that Rosie pushed is at the center of the opioid crisis in this country, which has no boundaries and affects the young and the old, the rich and the poor, all races, all genders. It is destroying generations of Americans and illicit fentanyl is leading the charge."
According to court documents and statements made in court, Gregory Kenneth Rosie, 43, was a distributor of scramble starting before August 2017 and continuing through the time of his arrest on Aug. 22, 2018. In November 2017, Rosie distributed a quantity of scramble to his friend who used the substance and overdosed. Rosie and Marcus Watson loaded the man into a vehicle and dropped him off at the Ladysmith Volunteer Fire Department, where the man was resuscitated. Approximately two weeks later, Rosie’s wife, Elizabeth Rosie, died in their Caroline County home of an overdose.
Marcus Watson, 43, of Fredericksburg, was sentenced on June 6 to more than three years in prison for his role in Rosie’s drug trafficking activities.
G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Jesse R. Fong, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division, Colonel Gary T. Settle, Superintendent of Virginia State Police, Tony Lippa, Caroline County Sheriff, and Steve F. Dempsey, King George County Sheriff, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge John A. Gibney, Jr. Assistant U.S. Attorney Olivia L. Norman prosecuted the case.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 3:18-cr-90.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
