Saline County mother and daughter found guilty of fentanyl distribution, death, possible 20-year sentence

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Officials said a Saline County mother and daughter were found guilty in federal court in Little Rock of fentanyl distribution that caused a death.

Officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas said 62-year-old April Adams and her daughter, 38-year-old Amber Church, both of Hensley, were found guilty on all charges by a jury after four hours of deliberation.

Other than the fentanyl cause of death charge, Adams was also charged with distribution of methamphetamine, officials said.

The two will be sentenced at a later date, officials said, and are facing a statutory minimum of a 20-year prison sentence, each, with an additional 20 years for the methamphetamine charge. The drug offenses carry additional penalties of up to a $1,000,000.00 fine and at least three years of supervised release, officials said.

Court officials said the pair will remain in custody prior to sentencing.

The April 2024 grand jury indictment that led to the trial came after Saline County deputies were called to a home in April 2023 for multiple overdoses. Deputies arrived and found four who had overdosed, including Church, officials said.

Medical personnel were called and administered Narcan, but one of the four died at the scene, investigators said.

Two witnesses at the trial testified that when they arrived at the home that night, Adams offered them methamphetamine. They told the jury they smoked the methamphetamine, and Church asked Adams to get the cocaine for the group.

Church got the purported cocaine from Adams’ room, the jury heard, and everybody used some except Adams. The substance was fentanyl, not cocaine, officials said.

People began to pass out almost immediately after ingesting the fentanyl, but Adams waited 45 minutes before making a phone call, and then called a friend instead of emergency services, according to the court testimony.