July 26, 2024 |
Photo – Marty Laroy Ervine mugshot – Courtesy Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office
Charges have been filed in last year’s fentanyl overdose death of a Hanna resident.
Thirty-five-year-old Marty Laroy Ervine, of Kitsap County, Washington is facing two counts of delivery of a controlled substance, specifically fentanyl, and one count of manslaughter. The charges stem from the February 2023 overdose death of Hanna resident, Christopher Lansing. If convicted, Ervine could face up to 60 years in a Wyoming prison.
Bigfoot99 obtained the official affidavit of Carbon County Sheriff’s Deputy and Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Special Agent Darren Willis. In his written statement, Deputy Willis said he, and other DCI agents, were called to a home on Beryl Court in Hanna on the evening of February 13th, 2023. Willis states that then Hanna Marshal Ted Kranenberg called the sheriff’s department to report a suspected fentanyl overdose of 30-year-old Christopher Lansing.
When first responders arrived on the scene, Lansing was declared dead. Drug paraphernalia and a bag of white powder were found near Lansing’s body.
A cell phone and an envelope addressed to Lansing containing a Washington State driver’s license in his name were also found at the scene. The cell phone allegedly contained text messages indicating that the substance Lansing used before his death was sent through the mail.
Deputy Willis writes that Lansing’s body did not show any signs of physical trauma.
A search of Lansing’s home did not turn up any more fentanyl. However, Willis states that two more envelopes sent from Bremerton, Washington were discovered.
Officers interviewed Lansing’s two roommates, only listed as R.J. and A.J. in court documents. A.J. allegedly told the police that Lansing had drugs sent to him through the mail, but he lost them while attending a junior high baseball game in Saratoga. R.J. added that Lansing may have lost the drugs in the restroom of a local restaurant.
Later that night, agents from Wyoming DCI began extracting data from the cell phone found near Lansing’s body.
Deputy Willis reported that Lansing sent and received multiple text messages from a person referred to as Marty. The text messages contained many mentions of powder and blues, thought to reference counterfeit fentanyl tablets. Lansing was in the process of writing a text message to Marty when he overdosed and died.
A toxicology report issued by the Carbon County Coroner’s Office indicates that Lansing’s body contained over nine times the amount of fentanyl considered fatal to a person.
Authorities traced the text messages back to Marty Laroy Ervine in Bremerton, Washington. Deputy Willis writes in his court affidavit that on March 3rd, 2023, Kitsap County sheriff’s deputies found Ervine passed out in the front seat of a truck registered to Lansing. Ervine allegedly told the deputy Lansing sold him the truck before moving to Wyoming.
A search of the vehicle yielded 75 counterfeit fentanyl tablets, over 35 grams of Methamphetamine, burglary tools, and stolen IDs and debit cards. Small baggies with alien faces on them were also found during the search.
Days before Lansing’s death in 2023, a similar baggie was found at the scene of the fentanyl overdose deaths of Saratoga residents Cassidee Wingo and Richard Heap. Saratoga Sandwich Company employee Max Schnider was charged and later acquitted of two counts of involuntary manslaughter related to Wingo and Heap’s deaths following a court case in September of last year.
Ervine was arrested by the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office and charged with theft, delivery of a controlled substance, possession of another’s identification, and possession of motor vehicle theft tools.
Ervine was extradited to Carbon County last week to face charges in the death of Hanna resident Lansing. He is currently being held in the Carbon County Jail on $100,000 cash bond. A preliminary hearing has been set for Wednesday, July 31st, at 2:30pm.
