BRUNSWICK, Ga. – A 36-year-old inmate in Camden County had pleaded guilty to providing drugs that caused another inmate’s overdose death at the Camden County Detention Facility.
Joshua Swing of Woodbine, Georgia, pleaded guilty to distribution of fentanyl, which carries a possible penalty of up to 20 years in prison, and there is no parole in the federal system.
“The law enforcement and medical community face an unprecedented fight against the epidemic of opioid abuse, and synthetic opioids like fentanyl add fuel to that raging inferno,” said Acting U.S. Attorney David H. Estes. “The corrupting influence of illegal narcotics distribution makes it especially disturbing that this deadly poison was provided to a jail inmate by another inmate.”
The investigation began May 17, 2020, when an inmate at the Camden County Detention Facility, identified in court documents as J.D., was found unresponsive in his cell. J.D. later died, and a subsequent autopsy found that his cause of death was acute fentanyl toxicity. Swing admitted he provided the fentanyl J.D. consumed.
Swing previously was convicted in April 2018 in state court in Nassau County, Florida, for sale of methamphetamine.
“I was honored that our agency was able to investigate this case and bring it to conclusion on behalf of the people of Camden County and Sheriff Jim Proctor, and perhaps bring a sense of closure for the people involved,” said Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk.