Colorado Springs woman pleads guilty in connection to Mitchell student’s death
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announced that Alexis Nicole Wilkins, age 27, of Colorado Springs pleaded guilty today to distribution of fentanyl, resulting in death.
According to the plea agreement, on December 3, 2021, a juvenile overdosed during class at Mitchell High School in Colorado Springs.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says that first responders attempted life-saving measures, and transported the juvenile to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The El Paso County Coroner determined the cause of death was “fentanyl intoxication.”
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, investigators spoke with two juvenile witnesses who were with the victim in a school restroom that morning. One juvenile witness provided statements that she and the victim used ”Percocet” in the bathroom that morning. Investigators were able to track where the juveniles got the pill through Facebook messages with the defendant, including a conversation that appears to be the one arranging the sale of a pill at the Citadel Mall in Colorado Springs the night before the victim’s death.
Federal prosecutors said that one of the juvenile witnesses said she was introduced to the defendant by a Denver gang member in February 2021 and had been purchasing “percs” from the defendant. One witness noted the pill they purchased on December 2, 2021, looked different and was a lighter blue color than what they had received previously.
The U.S. Attorney's Office reports that other Facebook messages indicate the defendant knew the pills she was selling were not made by a pharmaceutical company. On March 15, 2022, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Colorado Springs Police Department executed a federal search warrant on the defendant’s home on West Portal Drive in Colorado Springs. Officers located and seized over 100 blue pills marked with “M” and “30,” which contained fentanyl. Investigators believe some of the pills were packaged for distribution.
Wilkins will be sentenced on March 14, 2023. Distribution of fentanyl, a Schedule II controlled substance, resulting in death carries a potential penalty of no less than 20 years and up to life in prison, a fine of no more than $1,000,000, and no less than three years of supervised release.
