Colorado Springs man receives first 20-year federal prison sentence for dealing fentanyl causing death

DENVER, Colo. (KRDO) -- Thursday, a Federal Judge levied the longest sentence ever handed down for the charge of distributing fentanyl resulting in death in Colorado history.

Nathaniel Corser, 23, will spend the next 20 years of his life in federal prison after pleading guilty to distributing fentanyl resulting in death in August 2022.

According to court documents obtained by 13 Investigates Corser engaged in dealing drugs to 19-year-old Kaeden Norlander at a Colorado Springs park on July 4, 2021. Norlander's family told 13 Investigates that Kaeden believed he was getting Percocet pills and had no idea they were laced with fentanyl.

"Hopefully this will be a wake-up call for a lot of parents, kids, whatever, knowing one pill can kill you," his mom Laurie said. "Like know, you might think you're getting one thing, but you're getting your death sentence."

Documents say Kaeden's family found him dead inside his home the next day, July 5, 2021. He had passed away from fentanyl intoxication.

"What's hardest for us is that knowing there's not going to be any more of those times, you know, there's no more memories with Kaeden. They're done after only 19 years," Laurie Norlander said.

Inside the courtroom, federal prosecutors warned of the dangers of deadly fentanyl and how street-level drug dealing can turn lethal in an instant.

"They are killing our children and they are killing our neighbors with this poison. We will continue to go after fentanyl," U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado Cole Finegan said. "It is an epidemic that is affecting our entire country. It's affecting our state. And it's something that we talk about every day in the United States attorney's office."

Corser apologized to the Norlander family as they were seated in the courtroom pews. Corser at one point stated, "I wish it was me and not Kaeden."

The judge then handed down the multi-decade sentence.

"He's a young man. He's the same age as my next child in line. My biggest thing was I wanted him to be convicted of that offense, the distribution resulting in death. " Laurie Norldander said of Corser. "Anything less than that, I would not have been satisfied with it all."

The El Paso County District Attorney's initially levied state charges on Corser in July 2021. However, they dismissed the state charges when Corser was indicted at the federal level.

13 Investigates has spoken at length with DA Michael Allen about the difference in sentencing guidelines regarding state charges and federal charges for the crime, "distribution of fentanyl resulting in death."

"On the federal side if somebody distributes a controlled substance and it leads to a death case that's a mandatory 20 years to life in prison sentence," Allen explained in early April 2022. "The most we can ever hope for is probably manslaughter but there would have to be very specific facts that would fit that and manslaughter is a probation-eligible offense too."

Now, the U.S. Attorney's Office says it will remain focused on delivering just outcomes for victims of this senseless tragedy.

"Twenty years is a long time to spend in a federal prison. Today's sentence reflects the longest sentence to date that's been handed down in a federal courtroom in Colorado for a death directly attributable to fentanyl," Finegan said. "We will go after the people who are making this, and who are distributing this, and who are killing people in our community."