Man sentenced for selling drugs that killed 2 people

MOUNT VERNON — A 29-year-old Mount Vernon man was sentenced Wednesday to more than eight years in prison for selling the drugs that killed two people in April 2018.

Justin O’Brien Miller pleaded guilty in December to two counts of controlled substance homicide for selling fentanyl-laced pills to 18-year-old Garrett Arendse and 28-year-old Rebecca Doyle.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine.

He also pleaded guilty to two other drug-related charges and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Skagit County Superior Court Judge David Svaren sentenced Miller to the maximum allowed under state law.

Miller’s sentencing came in front of a crowd wearing white sweatshirts emblazoned with “Remember Garrett” and a photo of Arendse.

Miller apologized for the role he played in the deaths of Arendse and Doyle, but said he did not know the pills contained fentanyl.