Coshocton native connected to Molly overdose death in New York

• Tanner Howell of Coshocton arrested and charged Tuesday in New York with Lagaria Slaughter
• The pair of service members are allegedly connected to the overdose death of a woman from September 2018.
• Slaughter had been selling Molly and LSD to people on and off the base from May 2018 to March 2019.
• Howell allegedly arranged to purchase 57 capsules of Molly for $560 from Slaughter.

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK - A Coshocton native and 2016 graduate of Coshocton High School has been arrested and charged with drug trafficking relating to the overdose death of a woman in New York.

Tanner Howell, a 22-year-old who now resides in Jefferson County, New York, was charged Tuesday with one count of distributing and possessing with intent to distribute the drug known as Molly. The maximum prison sentence possible is 20 years. 

Alisa Howell, Tanner's mother, of Coshocton said her son was not involved in selling the drugs that lead to the woman's death, and that the allegations and charges are inaccurate. She contends he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Lagaria Slaughter, 25, also of Jefferson County, is a co-defendant in the case. He is charged with one count of conspiring to distribute Molly and LSD and one count of distributing and possessing with intent to distribute Molly. Both counts carry a maximum prison sentence of 20 years in prison.

Both are service members stationed on a military base in New York State. According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the pair were distributing Molly on Sept. 1, 2018, at the Electric Zoo music festival in New York. One of the young women who purchased the narcotics later died of a drug overdose. Slaughter is also alleged to have been distributing Molly and LSD from May 2018 to March 2019, according to the release.

Investigation revealed Slaughter had organized a trip to New York City with other service members to attend the music festival. While in New York City, Slaughter and another individual met Howell at a nightclub. Howell told Slaughter that he was going to the music festival the following day with a large group of friends and they wanted to buy Molly to take to the festival, the release states. Slaughter agreed to supply Molly for distribution to the group, according to the press release.

Howell arranged to purchase 57 capsules of Molly from Slaughter for $560, the press release said. Slaughter and another unnamed individual traveled to the festival to sell Molly. Howell had two female members of his group, the victim and her friend, meet Slaughter and the other person outside the concert entrance to retrieve the Molly to be used by the group. 

Howell paid for the drugs via electronic payment, according to the release, and the victim and her friend retrieved the pills from Slaughter. The identified victim overdosed on the Molly later that day and died from the overdose two days later. 

On April 24, law enforcement searched Slaughter's barracks at the base. Recovered among other things were approximately 10 capsules of Molly, 55 does of LSD and drug packaging materials. Text message recovered from Slaughter's cell phone show he had offered to sell hundreds of capsules of the drug to other service members on the base. 

The case is being handled by the Narcotics Unit of the U.S Attorney's Office. Assistant United States Attorneys Dominic A. Gentile and Peter J. Davis are in charge of prosecution. Also assisting in the investigation were the Detective Borough Bronx Overdose Squad and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The press release stated it was not the first time a drug overdose death has been connected to the Electric Zoo festival.

llhayhur@coshoctontribune.com

@llhayhurst

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