Inmate smuggled fentanyl that killed 2 at Georgia jail, officials say. He's sentenced
An inmate accused of dealing the fentanyl that killed two men inside an Atlanta-area jail was sentenced to life in prison, Georgia prosecutors said.
A jury convicted Harry Fomby, 54, of murder in the overdose deaths of Corey Leemarie Bryant, 22, and Ian Jabar Longshore, 36, in 2021, the Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office said in a March 14 news release.
Fomby was also found guilty of violating Georgia's Controlled Substance Abuse Act and two counts of possession of prohibited items by an inmate, prosecutors said.
He was ordered to serve two life sentences more than three years after Bryant and Longshore were found dead in their cells at the Gwinnett County Jail, according to prosecutors. Both overdosed on Fentanyl and Xylazine, a veterinary sedative often mixed with illicit drugs.
No attorney information for Fomby was listed online.
'Fentanyl is a deadly drug, and ... this is not a substance to be toyed with,' Gwinnett District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said in the release. 'Two men lost the chance to turn around their lives because of this substance.'
Bryant and Longshore were discovered Sept. 6, 2021, the DA's office said. Fellow inmates told jailers that Fomby was the one who smuggled in the deadly drugs.
At trial, investigators showed footage of an X-ray scan taken as Fomby was being booked into the Gwinnett County Jail, according to the release. It showed a 'small circular item' hidden between his legs.
Prosecutors also pointed to security video from the jail that showed Longshore walk to Fomby's cell and pick up a 'small item' that was slid under the door. Later, Longshore returned with commissary items that he left outside Fomby's cell.
Prosecutors said Fomby acknowledged the trade during a jailhouse phone call, saying 'he was making 'maneuvers'' at the jail. He tried to blame his cellmate when investigators asked him about it, authorities said.
Fomby remained in the Gwinnett County Jail without bond as of March 17, online records show.
Lawrenceville is about a 30-mile drive northeast from downtown Atlanta.
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