A Pleasantville man pleaded guilty Monday to leading a drug-trafficking network and providing the drugs that killed a Galloway Township man in 2018.
Emery Chapman, now 45, was dealing drugs even while incarcerated in Atlantic County and Georgia, a wiretap investigation in 2020 discovered.
He was one of four people arrested June 1, 2020, in connection with the drug-trafficking ring.
Chapman would use contraband cellphones to conspire with other members of the network to purchase drugs from Philadelphia and resell them in Atlantic County, according to the Prosecutor's Office. The investigation led to the recovery of 19,650 bags of heroin, weighing about 9½ ounces.
Theresa Lockhart allegedly sold heroin to an undercover officer multiple times in January and February of that year, for a total of more than five ounces of heroin.
Chapman would set up the transactions, direct payment and schedule pick up from his supplier in Philadelphia, according to an investigation initiated by the Liberty Mid-Atlantic HIDTA Task Force.
Ebony Chapman, of Absecon, and Tennille Lee, of Atlantic City, also were part of the enterprise, according to the charges.
Chapman pleaded guilty to leading the ring Monday, along with a causing the overdose death of 59-year-old Anthony Tamburelli in 2018.
The Galloway Township man was found dead inside his home Dec. 17, 2018, of what was determined to be a fatal combination of heroin and fentanyl.
Chapman and Brian Whitted were accused of selling Tamburelli the fatal drugs.
Whitted, now 61, pleaded guilty last year, and is serving a sentence of 10 years for the strict liability death and five years for conspiracy. He is eligible for parole Sept. 1, 2028.
Chapman faces 21 years in prison for both crimes, with nine years of parole ineligibility. The plea deal is contingent upon his co-defendants in the drug-trafficking network pleading as well, according to the Prosecutor's Office.
The agreement does not include a case in which Chapman allegedly shot a man Feb. 3, 2019, at the Hard Rock Casino Hotel in Atlantic City.
Chapman was in federal custody for some time on charges out of Atlanta, but was released Dec. 22 of last year, records show. He appears to have pleaded to the shooting in 2021, but details of the agreement were not available.
Chapman remains in the Atlantic County Justice Facility.
