A Penn State student died of an overdose earlier this year. On Friday, the man who sold him those drugs received his sentence.
William Denton, from Raleigh, NC, died of a multi-drug overdose in his campus dorm room in January. The 19-year-old Penn State sophomore had bought what he thought was heroin—but which an autopsy showed was a combination of drugs including methylfentanyl—from Mark Grover, of Verona, PA. Grover pleaded guilty to a first-degree felony of drug delivery resulting in death in October.
On Friday, Judge Jonathan Grine sentenced Grover to seven and a half to 19 years in prison. He was also ordered to pay for Denton’s funeral.
Grover’s defense lawyer, Patrick McAreavy, said Grover and Denton were friends and that Grover was remorseful. But Deputy District Attorney Sean McGraw said Grover trafficked drugs from Pittsburgh to State College and was “a facilitator of the opioid crisis.”
This case was one of the four cases in Centre County this year involving drug delivery resulting in death. McGraw said he believes the hefty sentence will create deterrence.
“The sentence that was imposed here today was a sentence that, I believe, will be noticed by people who would be inclined to do what Mark Grover did, which was to sell opioids and other drugs for profit,” McGraw said.
