ST. GEORGE — A Cedar City couple were both ordered to spend more than a decade in federal prison for delivering fentanyl to a woman who subsequently died of an overdose.
John Parry, 40, and Kimberly Dawn Hare, 34, pleaded guilty to distribution of fentanyl in November. Parry was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison, and Hare was sentenced to 12 years. They will also serve three years of supervised release after and were ordered to pay restitution of $4,616 for funeral costs of the woman who overdosed.
Cedar City police responded to a woman who was having a cardiac arrest and was not breathing or responsive, according to a police booking affidavit. “Witnesses were yelling at officers stating that she needed Narcan (nalaxone).”
“Officers found one foil with two blue pills resembling fentanyl. Another foil was found on the floor with burn residue and one blue pill slightly burnt in it next to the victim,” the affidavit states. “Agents with the (Iron County) Drug Task Force began investigating due to the fact it was a fentanyl overdose that killed her.”
The case was initially charged in state court but was transferred to federal court in October.
Court documents say Parry purchased fentanyl in Salt Lake City on April 19, 2024. He returned to Cedar City the next day, used Hare’s Facebook to sell three fentanyl pills, and Hare delivered the pills to the woman at a Cedar City hotel. The woman was found dead from an overdose within an hour; two pills were recovered, and a toxicology report showed the woman had a lethal amount of fentanyl in her blood, along with amphetamine and meth, court document say.
“Today, our hearts are with the loved ones of the victim,” said acting U.S. Attorney Felice John Viti in a prepared statement. “No amount of imprisonment will justify the loss of life in this tragedy, but it is our hope that the sentence imposed will help them find closure and deter others from distributing this deadly drug.”
Before the sentencing, Parry submitted a letter to the judge: “What I want to tell you might possibly hurt my case but I believe it’s the right thing to do,” it says. “I take full responsibility in what I done but I am having a hard time forgiving myself and letting go of what I done to Kim.”
In the letter, Parry said he pressured Hare into selling the pills because he “needed to come up with some money for my next fix.”
A confidential informant told investigators that Parry and Hare allegedly use fentanyl around their 3-year-old child “all the time” and “even blew the fentanyl smoke in the child’s face,” according to a police booking affidavit. It also says a search of the couple’s residence turned up drug paraphernalia near their 3-year-old child’s toys.
Hare “is such a good woman and mother and it kills me knowing that she has to go to prison and be separated from our son because of my selfishness,” Parry wrote. “Kim moved back to Cedar City to get away from me and the drugs. She got a job up here and was doing really good. Kim has a good heart, she moved up here for herself and our son. … She wouldn’t let me move to Cedar to be with them until I got clean so I lied to her and told her I was clean.”
“All my life I have wanted to be a good father and husband but I have been the complete opposite,” Parry said. “This jail sentence has been a blessing for me. … I feel more free now being in jail then I ever have my whole life. I’m going to take advantage of the time I get to better myself.”
“I will do my time and her time if I could; my son needs her and she needs him too,” he said.
Hare wrote to the judge and the victims’ family, saying, “I’m really sorry for the pain I’ve caused. I take full accountability for my role in this situation.”
Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in Utah, according to a Utah Department of Health and Human Services report on data from 2014 to 2023.
The overdose death rate in Utah did not change much for over 10 years, the report shows, but the highest number of drug overdose deaths on record in Utah was in 2023, with the rate expected to increase as fentanyl overdoses now outpace opioid prescription and heroin deaths.
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