Washington Woman Sentenced In Drug Death

Drug related deaths continue to plague the local area, especially with the fast rise of fentanyl laced drugs. Ashley Matthews, 37, of Washington County was sentenced to five-and-a-half to 11 years in jail by Judge Brandon Neuman for drug related offenses, including drug delivery resulting in a death. Matthews was found guilty earlier in June for her connection to the death of Brandon Howard, 37, in December of 2019 in Canton Township. She was a friend of Howard’s, and began communicating with him on a social media text messenger app to orchestrate a drug deal between him and her boyfriend, Robert Michael Hayes Jr. Both Matthews and Hayes went to Howard’s apartment to exchange fentanyl laced cocaine for marijuana. After leaving the apartment, Hayes sent a message to Howard on the messenger app, warning him of the potency of the fentanyl-laced cocaine. The warning was too late, as Howard was eventually found dead by his sister. A Victim impact statement was read aloud to the court during Tuesday’s sentencing, on behalf of his sister. Matthews will serve her sentence concurrently and she was ordered to pay over $9,000 dollars of restitution to Howard’s family.