Willards woman sentenced in deadly Worcester County fentanyl case

A Willards woman has been sentenced to five years in prison for her role in the distribution of fentanyl that resulted in the 2021 death of a Berlin man.

According to a news release issued this week, Leigh Ann Williams, 35, was sentenced on Feb. 16 to 10 years in prison, with all but five suspended, and placed on three years of supervised probation upon release for conspiracy to distribute fentanyl.

Williams and a co-defendant, Bryan Zimmerman, 35, of Ocean City, were charged with distributing the drugs that killed Christopher Price, 37, of Berlin, in September 2021.

Zimmerman was convicted of distribution of fentanyl for the same incident, and in July 2022 was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison, with all but 10 years suspended and placed on five years of supervised probation upon release.

The charges resulted from an investigation that began on Sept. 25, 2021 after Price, an employee of an Ocean City hotel, failed to show up for work. Hotel employees entered Price’s apartment, discovered him deceased, and contacted police. Ocean City Police Department detectives obtained cell phone records which revealed that Price had been in recent contact with Zimmerman.

After extensive analysis of digital evidence, detectives were able to establish that Zimmerman and Williams traveled together to sell Price what he believed to be Xanax. Detectives also learned that Zimmerman had been arrested two days prior for possession of fentanyl.

The release said autopsy results of Price indicated his cause of death was fentanyl and ethanol intoxication, and as a result, a Worcester County Grand Jury indicted Zimmerman in November 2021. Williams was charged for her role in the incident on April 5 and she later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl.