Case DIH-0788
Debra Kathleen Vekasi
Bought drugs and hid them in tennis balls thrown over the fence of a Carter County, Tennessee, prison annex for inmate Michael Wayne Lee to distribute; pills from a May 2020 delivery led to two inmates' overdoses, and one died.
- Court
- Federal, Eastern District of Tennessee
- State
- Tennessee
- Year of death
- 2020
- Year sentenced
- 2023
- Drugs
- Fentanyl (counterfeit oxycodone pills)
- Conduct
- Upstream supplier
- Relationship
- No direct contact
- Conviction
- Conspiracy to distribute fentanyl
- Plea or trial
- Trial
- Sentence
- Time served (28 months)
- Found through
- Federal DOJ release search 2010–2026
This was a federal prosecution. For what Tennessee’s own law says about deaths caused by supplying drugs, see Tennessee in the state law guide.
Sources
- justice.govMichael wayne lee sentenced drug offenses related overdose death
Sources checked 8 October 2026. If something here is wrong or out of date, please tell us.