A Central Florida man was recently sentenced to death by unlawful distribution of fentanyl.
Kevin Rasheed Richardson, 27, was found guilty by a jury this month of death by distribution of a controlled substance (fentanyl) in the death of Pavel Jesus Mata, 28, on July 17, 2021. After Richardson’s conviction, Judge James R. Baxley sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of release.
Just before midnight on July 17, 2021, deputies from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) responded to a call for service to Sarah’s Place Apartments in Clermont regarding an unresponsive person. When officials arrived, they discovered an unresponsive person, later identified as the victim, Pavel Mata, inside a vehicle in the parking lot.
Emergency first responders transferred Mata to a local hospital and pronounced him dead shortly thereafter. An overdose of fentanyl in Mata’s system caused his death, a medical autopsy later revealed.
After contacting the decedent’s relatives, it was discovered that he was seeking to connect with a subject named Kevin, who was eventually identified as the defendant and also lived in the apartment complex. During the inquiry, officers performed a cellphone forensic extraction on the victim’s phone, revealing text communications between the victim and the defendant. The communications contained chats about the acquisition of narcotics.
After collecting video security footage from the apartment complex, law enforcement was able to show Richardson approaching the victim and briefly entering the victim’s car before exiting and driving away. Throughout the video, no one else enters the vehicle, nor does the victim exit. During the interrogation, Richardson admitted to knowing the victim and meeting with Mata on the day of his death.
