Man Pleads Guilty in Connection with Fatal Fentanyl Overdose

 ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Reston man pleaded guilty today to selling fentanyl to an individual who later overdosed on the drug and died.

According to court documents, Peter Andrew Romm, 35, regularly traveled to Baltimore to buy heroin and fentanyl that he then sold to customers in Northern Virginia. Romm sold the drugs in two forms: enclosed in small plastic capsules, and folded in small slips of paper. Romm’s customers included an individual identified in court documents as Individual 1. On October 7, 2019, Romm sold fentanyl to Individual 1 through a middle-man. Individual 1 later consumed the fentanyl and fatally overdosed; he was found dead in his home the next morning. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that the cause of Individual 1’s death was acute fentanyl poisoning.

As recently as February of this year, Romm was still traveling to Baltimore regularly to buy fentanyl. On February 11, Romm was arrested on his way back from Baltimore in possession of approximately 75 capsules of fentanyl. Only eight days later, on February 19, he was arrested again on his way back from Baltimore with another 72 capsules of fentanyl in his vehicle.

Romm pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin and 400 grams or more of fentanyl; and one count of distribution of fentanyl. As part of his plea agreement, he admitted that the fentanyl he distributed caused Individual 1’s death.

Romm is scheduled to be sentenced on March 17, 2020, and faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Mark R. Herring, Attorney General of Virginia; and Colonel Edwin C. Roessler Jr., Fairfax County Chief of Police, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga accepted the plea.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine E. Rumbaugh and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Karolina Klyuchnikova are prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:20-cr-176.