A 33-year-old woman was arrested Wednesday after she allegedly admitted to detectives with the Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team (JNET) that she supplied fentanyl to a 57-year-old Lewis County man who died of an overdose last December, according to a news release from JNET.
Nichole L. Thompson was booked into the Lewis County Jail and is expected to face charges of controlled substance homicide and unlawful delivery of a controlled substance.
The news release from JNET included the following account:
On Dec.6, 2022, at approximately 8:10 p.m., deputies with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) responded to the 2300 block of Wildwood Road in Curtis where they located a 57-year-old man who had died from an apparent overdose of fentanyl. In the following weeks, the Lewis County Coroner’s Office reported fentanyl as one of the primary contributors to the man’s death.
In January of 2023, JNET contacted the LCSO to work collaboratively on this death investigation.
The Centralia Police Department General Detective’s Division was investigating crimes unrelated to death in Curtis. On Tuesday, March 9, detectives from the Centralia Police Department, along with members of the Washington State Department of Corrections and JNET, went to the 17000 block of Furman Road Southwest in Rochester where they arrested 37-year-old Brandon Weberfor an outstanding Department of Corrections warrant as well as the second-degree burglary, second-degree theft, possession of a stolen vehicle and escape from community custody. The charges stemmed from Weber burglarizing a store in Centralia, according to JNET.
When Weber was arrested, Thompson was present. JNET detectives recognized her as a person who “has ties to the local illegal drug community” and who was at the residence in Curtis when the overdose death occurred in December 2022.
Detectives interviewed Thompson and she admitted to supplying fentanyl to the man who died of an overdose in Curtis on Dec. 6. She was arrested and booked into the jail.
Local resources for substance abuse disorders and recovery can be found through the Recovery Navigator Program at https://www.grbhaso.org/rnp or by calling the crisis line at 1-800-803-8833.
Information about the dangers of fentanyl can be found at https://www.dea.gov/factsheets/fentanyl.
