August 25, 2015

Last of Four Defendants Charged in the March 2014 Heroin Overdose Death of a Dallas Teenager Admits Guilt

DALLAS—A 37-year-old heroin dealer is the latest, and last, defendant to appear in federal court and plead guilty to a felony drug offense stemming from his role in the March 2014 heroin overdose death of a Dallas teenage girl, Rian Hannah Lashley, announced John Parker, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.

Jimison Erik Coleman, 37, of Los Angeles, California, appeared this morning before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul D. Stickney and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute heroin. Coleman is the last of four defendants charged in the case to plead guilty. The other three defendants charged in the case, Kathryn Grace Dirks, a/k/a “Kat,” 25; Glen William Brunton, 28; and Cierra Allyn Rounds, 27; also pleaded guilty to that offense. Each defendant faces a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years in federal prison and a $1 million fine; sentencings are set for the upcoming months.

According to documents filed in his case, Coleman admits that from December 2013 until April 2015, he routinely distributed heroin and other drugs to multiple customers, some of whom worked as dancers in various strip bars in the Dallas area as well as clubs in Southern California. From time to time, Coleman fronted quantities of drugs to particular dancers who then, at his direction, sold the drugs to patrons and/or dancers with whom they came in contact. During this time, Coleman distributed multiple grams of heroin, multiple hits of ecstasy and molly, multiple ounces of cocaine and various prescription drugs to numerous customers in North Texas and elsewhere.

During the early morning hours of March 25, 2014, Coleman and Dirks traveled from a residence in Plano, Texas, to a nearby IHOP restaurant, where they joined Rounds, Brunton, and Rian Lashley, and the group ate breakfast. Coleman admits that he had provided Dirks, Rounds and Brunton with heroin on numerous occasions prior to that date.

Late that morning in a parking lot near the IHOP, Coleman gave Brunton five baggies totaling one gram of “China White” heroin and directed him to deliver the heroin to Lashley, who was with Dirks and Rounds in Lashley’s vehicle. Brunton, at Coleman’s direction, distributed the heroin to Rian Lashley for $120.00. After acquiring the heroin, Rounds, Dirks and Lashley left the parking lot in Lashley’s vehicle and traveled to a residence in Dallas where Rounds was living. Coleman and Brunton left the parking lot in a separate vehicle.

On March 25, 2014, Rian Lashley died at a residence after being injected with the heroin that she purchased from Coleman earlier in the day. Coleman was not present when Lashley was injected with the heroin that, according to the autopsy, resulted in her death.

The Dallas Police Department, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Buena Park, California, Police Department investigated. Deputy Criminal Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Rick Calvert and Assistant U.S. Attorney Phelesa Guy are prosecuting.