Pair sentenced in fatal overdose case

Editor's note: Joseph Jones is a Register correspondent representing vermiliondaily.com. VERMILION — In May 2022, 22-year-old Justin Cramer died in Vermilion from a fentanyl overdose shortly after purchasing the drugs from Tyler Fox and Abigail Link, both 25 and residents of W. 20th St. in Lorain. Investigators used phone records, surveillance video and witness interviews to link Fox and Link to the sale. A Lorain County grand jury issued secret indictments in October 2022, charging them with involuntary manslaughter, corrupting another with drugs and fentanyl trafficking. They were arrested in November 2022. They were released on bond while awaiting trial. Fox and Link entered their guilty pleas in May as part of a deal that reduced the original charges of involuntary manslaughter to reckless homicide and trafficking, avoiding a trial that had been set to begin earlier this year. On June 17, Vermilion police arrested them on new felony burglary charges after they reportedly entered a family member's home on Sanford Street in Vermilion. According to police, as of last week, the Erie County prosecutor's office is considering presenting the burglary case to a grand jury. Following the new arrests, Lorain County Common Pleas Court Judge Giovanna Bremke revoked their bonds. In May, Fox and Link pleaded guilty to reduced charges of reckless homicide and fentanyl trafficking in connection with Cramer's death. On June 28, Bremke sentenced both Fox and Link to 2.5 years in prison. They remain in custody with the burglary charges above being reviewed by prosecutors still looming over the pair.