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Asheville -- October 13, 2022: According to Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, U.S. District Victoria Kerrigan Irby, 26, of Brevard, North Carolina, to 15 years in prison.
Irby was sentenced on October 3, 2022 byJudge Max Cogburn for trafficking narcotics, including fentanyl, which led to an overdose death.
The announcement is being made today by U.S. Attorney King along with Chief David Zack of the Asheville Police Department and Robert J. Murphy, Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which is in charge of the Asheville Post of Duty.
Irby was involved in the distribution of drugs in and around Buncombe County between January 2018 and June 2019, according to court records submitted at the sentencing hearing. According to court documents, Irby was principally involved in the distribution of fentanyl while also trafficking other narcotics. Irby allegedly distributed pure or uncut fentanyl with knowledge that it was leading to overdoses in her clients, according to court records. Irby had to revive numerous clients who had overdosed on the fentanyl she was selling, as was revealed in court today. Irby sold D.F., a victim identified in court records, fentanyl on May 23, 2019, which led to the victim's overdose death. Even after the overdose death of the victim, Irby kept on selling fentanyl.
Irby entered a guilty plea on April 4, 2022 to distribution of heroin, marijuana, fentanyl, methamphetamine, and buprenorphine as well as possession with the intent to distribute those substances. Irby also acknowledged, as part of her plea agreement, that she provided D.F. on May 23, 2019, with a mixture or substance that contains fentanyl, and that D.F.'s use of the fentanyl Irby provided contributed to his death.
Judge Cogburn sentenced Irby to 15 years in prison, noting that Irby's actions—continuing to sell fentanyl while aware that doing so was putting her customers at risk of overdosing and doing so even after a fentanyl fatality had occurred—were particularly disturbing.
Irby is currently detained by the federal government and will be handed over to the federal Bureau of Prisons upon the establishment of a federal facility.
The investigation was conducted by the Asheville DEA and the Asheville Police Department.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Kent of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Asheville.
WNCTIMES by Marjorie Farrington
