Anthony J. Carson 25, of Struthers and Lowellville, left, is shown during his sentencing hearing Wednesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, where he was sentenced to three years in prison for supplying a fatal dose of fentanyl to a friend who overdosed and died in Poland Township in April. At right is his attorney, Pete Klimas.

YOUNGSTOWN — Anthony J. Carson, 25, of Brandon Avenue in Struthers and New Castle Road in Lowellville, was sentenced to three years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty in October to supplying the fentanyl that killed a friend on April 23, 2021, at his friend’s home in Poland Township.

Judge Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court also ordered Carson to pay a mandatory $2,500 fine.

Carson pleaded guilty previously to corrupting another with drugs, possession of a fentanyl-related compound and cocaine possession.

Authorities said Carson and Victor J. Pappas, 31, were friends who took turns buying drugs, and that on the day Pappas overdosed and died, Carson bought the drugs. The two thought they were taking Oxycontin, but it was fentanyl, Steve Maszczak, assistant county prosecutor, said.

Carson was indicted on several additional charges, including involuntary manslaughter, but prosecutors dismissed the first-degree felony in exchange for Carson’s plea to a third-degree felony because of the circumstances of their drug use together, Maszczak said.

Pappas was a 2008 graduate of West Branch High School and earned a bachelor’s degree from Notre Dame College in 2012, according to his obituary.

erunyan@vindy.com