RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — A federal judge has sentenced a woman to eight years in prison for providing the fentanyl that caused the overdose death of a 16-year-old Porcupine boy.
Tarriah Provost, 24, earlier pleaded guilty to conspiracy with intent to distribute a controlled substance as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.
Louis Sandoval died of an overdose on Dec. 2, 2020. An autopsy found fentanyl in his system, which Provost admitted to giving him.
Provost told the judge that Sandoval was like a little brother to her and she wouldn’t have given him the drug if she thought it would kill him.
Through their statements, Provost and her attorney told the story of how addiction caused the defendant’s life to deteriorate.
Provost attended the University of Colorado Boulder in 2015 after winning a scholarship. After dropping out, Provost returned to Pine Ridge and had a son.
According to her defense attorney, Jennifer Albertson, Provost’s life shifted after she was prescribed oxycodone following a car accident in November 2019 and surgery in May 2021.
Albertson characterized Provost as someone who “had an oxy habit” and “didn’t go over there with any malice” when she supplied Sandoval with a fentanyl pill.
Four others — Donna Garnette, Kelly Grass, Jesse Grass, and Kimberly Janis — took the same plea deal as Provost for their involvement in the transportation and sale of pills. Kelly Grass was sentenced to 57 months in prison. Jesse Grass does not have a sentencing date yet. Sentencing for Janis is May 16 and June 22 for Garnette.