Man arrested for selling fentanyl that led to woman’s death

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Roger Lamar Walker, 44, was arrested yesterday and charged with seven felonies, including distributing a substance causing death, after allegedly selling fentanyl that killed a woman in 2021.

On January 15, 2021, Gainesville Police Department (GPD) officers responded to an apartment at Pensacola Apartments, where they found a deceased woman on the floor next to her bed. The investigation determined that the probable cause of her death was acute fentanyl intoxication. The deceased woman’s roommate reportedly told officers that the woman had an opiate addiction.

GPD’s investigation found that the victim’s roommate had purchased drugs at an apartment in Tower Oaks Glen earlier in the day and that the roommate had given the victim heroin, fentanyl, and Xanax before her death.

The roommate was later arrested on unrelated charges and reportedly told a detective that she had purchased the heroin and fentanyl from a man she knows as “Zoe” and that “Zoe” sells fentanyl, heroin, crack cocaine, and powder cocaine. She said there was a phone number for “Zoe” in her phone. After obtaining a search warrant for her phone, a detective matched a number for “Zoe” from her phone to a GRU account for Roger Walker that was opened in March 2020. The roommate reportedly identified Walker in a photo line-up as the man she knew as “Zoe.”

She said she had purchased $40 worth of heroin/fentanyl from “Zoe” on the day of the victim’s death and had given about half of the drugs to the victim. Sometime after giving the drugs to the victim, she found the victim unresponsive in her bedroom. She said she had been buying heroin/fentanyl from “Zoe” for about a month.

According to the sworn complaint filed against Walker, the roommate reportedly said that she spoke with Walker after the victim’s death, and he “made it very clear that if law enforcement asked, that the fentanyl did not come from him. He told [the roommate] to make sure the death of [the victim] did not come back on him. [The roommate] stated that she was very afraid of Walker and knew him to be involved in a gang called ‘Zo Pound.'”

The roommate gave the detective directions to the apartment she visited on the day she bought the drugs and also pointed to Walker’s apartment on Google Maps. The detective noted that the apartment is at the southwest end of Tower Glen Oaks and directly across SW 24th Avenue from Gainesville Country Day School (194 feet away).

Detectives conducted surveillance at Walker’s apartment and reportedly watched multiple people walk up to his apartment, then leave a few minutes later. On March 4, 2021, officers pulled over one vehicle that left the apartment complex and arrested the occupants on multiple charges, including drug possession. A witness reportedly told the officer that one of the defendants had contacted a drug dealer named “Zo” by phone before buying fentanyl.

On April 24, 2021, Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a call about a shooting in the 1900 block of SW 72nd Street. The victim told deputies that Walker, a drug dealer she knew as “Zoe,” had shot at her from a car after making a statement about “sending [her] back to her maker.” She said she was in fear for her life and ran away while “Zoe” fired a handgun multiple times.

A sworn complaint for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon was filed against Walker, and he was arrested on May 13, 2021, and ordered held on $250,000 bond. His attorney filed a Motion for Bond Reduction on May 20, stating that Walker was a resident of Port St. Lucie and would reside at a specific address in Port St. Lucie if released. No response to the motion was filed, but the charges were dropped on June 4, and he was released.

On June 16, GPD received a tip that Walker sold drugs from the apartment in Tower Oaks Glen, and that person reportedly identified Walker in a photo line-up.

On April 10, 2023, the Alachua County Spring Term Grand Jury returned a True Bill indicting Walker for the death of the victim caused by the distribution of fentanyl, two counts of sale of a controlled substance, possession of a place for the purpose of selling controlled substances, tampering with a witness, and the unlawful use of a two-way communication device. At the time, Walker was in federal custody.

Walker has 11 felony convictions (none violent) and three misdemeanor convictions (none violent). He has served six state prison sentences, with his most recent release in 2017. Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail at $970,000.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.