Second Arrest Made in Carbon County Fentanyl Deaths

A 34-year-old man from Washington State was arrested in June in connection with one of three fentanyl deaths in Carbon County earlier this year.

Marty Leroy Ervine is facing two felony counts of delivery of a controlled substance and one count of involuntary manslaughter in Carbon County according to documents filed in circuit court earlier on May 25. Ervine was arrested on June 5 on a warrant issued from Carbon County, according to an article originally published in the Kitsap Sun. The charge of involuntary manslaughter is connected to the overdose death in Hanna of Christopher Lansing on February 13.

According to an affidavit of probable cause, members of the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office and the Wyoming Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI) responded to a suspected fatal fentanyl overdose of a Hanna man on February 13. Upon arriving, Hanna Marshal Ted Kranenberg identified the man as Lansing. Kranenberg also provided investigators with various drug paraphernalia, an envelope addressed to Lansing, Lansing’s Washington State driver’s license and a cell phone said to belong to the deceased.

A bag of white powder shown to investigators was similar to one left in a Saratoga restaurant on February 3 and located at the home of Richard Heap and Megan Cassidee Wingo, who had died of a suspected fentanyl overdose on February 4. In an interview with Lansing’s roommates, it was revealed Lansing had relapsed. They said Lansing had admitted he had drugs sent to him but had lost them. This was later confirmed in text messages between Lansing and Ervine.

Lansing’s roommates told investigators he had received mail on February 13 and had appeared “wired” afterwards. They found him unresponsive later that day. According to toxicology reports, Lansing had more than nine times the lethal amount of fentanyl in his system.

A more extensive search of the property revealed another envelope similar to the one provided by the Hanna Marshal. One envelope was from ME LaRoy while another was from “Mom.” In text messages between Lansing and Ervine, Ervine had expressed concern over mailing fentanyl.

“I don’t really wanna get I (in) the habit cuz they will start raising there eyebrows but I don’t think I have to put a sender name,” Ervine wrote on February 5.

“Put from mom,” Lansing responded. “With a random return address … no one will ever know.”

Text messages between the two began on January 13 until the morning of Lansing’s death.

On January 31, Ervine and his girlfriend had an encounter with Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office deputies, according to court documents. During the encounter, Ervine was driving a truck registered to Lansing. He told the deputies he had bought the truck from Lansing, which was backed up by text messages on Lansing’s phone. In an exchange between Lansing and Ervine, the latter offered to sell the truck for cash and fentanyl.

Upon obtaining a search warrant, Kitsap County deputies found small baggies with alien faces which were similar to those found at the scene of Lansing’s death and to the baggie left in the bathroom of the Saratoga restaurant later found at the home of Heap and Wingo.

Investigators from Wyoming DCI also reviewed photos provided by the United States Postal Inspection Service which showed a truck similar to the one driven by Ervine. According to court documents, the truck was parked in front of a residence in Bremerton, Washington with an address one digit off from the return address on one of the envelopes found with Lansing.

According to original reporting by the Kitsap Sun, Ervine’s bail was set at $1 million. He is innocent until proven guilty.

Schneider Update

Max Schneider, the Saratoga man charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of Heap and Wingo, is still awaiting trial. He has also been charged with one count of delivery of a controlled substance and has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is innocent until proven guilty. Earlier this year, his bail was lowered from $150,000 to $30,000.

The Carbon County Attorney’s Office has filed a request for a continuation of the trial, which was originally scheduled for August 15, due to the unavailability of expert testimony per court documents. As of July 25, a rescheduled date had not been set.