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Breckenridge man sentenced to five years for role in two fentanyl overdose deaths

Christopher Malcolm, a 22-year-old Breckenridge man who supplied drugs to two people who then overdosed and died, was sentenced to five years in a community corrections facility on Thursday. He was originally charged with two counts of negligent homicide but later pleaded guilty to distribution of a controlled substance.

Malcolm admitted to purchasing the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl on the dark web in late 2015 and supplying it to his brother, Michael, and a friend, Dylan Randall, who both fatally overdosed within hours of each other on September 26.

Toxicology reports later showed that the decedents had nearly three times the fatal amount of the drug in their systems. According to an arrest affidavit, Christopher Malcolm had also overdosed on the same night but survived.



During the sentencing hearing on Thursday, both the Malcolm and Randall families spoke about the grief the episode had caused them, according to a news release from the District Attorney’s Office.

“Opioid overdoses are epidemic but the source has to start somewhere,” Chief Judge Mark Thompson said, according to the release. “Obtaining and sharing drugs has a consequence and when that factors into (a death) that is significant… Malcolm and others must recognize there are consequences.”



Malcolm will be sent to the Hilltop House in Durango, a corrections center for felons where residents must pay rent and find a job in the community while they participate in rehabilitation programs.

“To users, these drugs are irresistible, even in the face of death,” District Attorney Bruce Brown said in the release. “Today’s sentence doesn’t punish but hopefully deters… We will continue to use the resources of law enforcement and the courts to try to find solutions to address these issues but fundamentally our community cannot turn a blind eye to the horror that is occurring daily.”


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