This week in Bartow County, a man was found guilty of killing a teenager with a strong drug. We talked to the teen’s mother on Thursday.
On WSB Tonight at 11 p.m., Justin Wilfon from Channel 2 talked to Amber Corbin for the first time. Corbin is the mother of Gabriel, who was 16 when he died after a drug dealer gave him Fentanyl.
She says that Erik Ovalle, a drug dealer, gave her son Gabriel a lethal dose of Fentanyl in June 2021, when Gabriel thought he was buying something else. On Friday, a jury in Bartow County found Ovalle guilty.
“If his conviction could stop one more child from dying and one more family from going through what we did, then maybe his death meant something,” said Corbin.
But a guilty verdict is not enough for her. She is now on a mission to save the lives of other teens, and she has a strong message for parents and drug dealers who sell the deadly drug. “I have nothing but anger towards him, and that’s being kind. He was good at what he did. “He used a child for his own gain, and he killed my son,” Corbin said.
Corbin said she thinks her son bought drugs from Ovalle in the weeks before he died to help himself deal with his mental health problems. But then, she says, Ovalle lied to her son Gabriel and gave him almost pure Fentanyl when Gabriel thought he was buying something else.
“I hope that his conviction will send a message to these drug dealers,” Corbin said. “They are thieves. They are not drug dealers, and they are taking advantage of our kids.”
Gabriel was dead a few hours after he took the drug.
Here is the tweet from “For him I have nothing but anger, and that’s to put it mildly,” said Corbin.
“For him I have nothing but anger, and that’s to put it mildly,” said Corbin. https://t.co/8tz4pXNd1w
— WSB-TV (@wsbtv) February 24, 2023
Even after more than a year and a half, the family is still having trouble getting by. But now that she is telling her story for the first time, Corbin hopes that other parents won’t have to go through the same pain. She hopes that this will send a message to other dealers and that parents will watch their kids more closely, even if that means not trusting them.
“Don’t believe anyone. “Don’t trust anyone, not even your own child, because what they say isn’t always the truth,” Corbin said. “Be a part of their lives. And if they are having trouble, do whatever it takes.”
Wilfon was also live in Cartersville, where he talked to one of the prosecutors who is working on the case. This prosecutor hopes that people will pay attention to this case. Assistant District Attorney Earl Newton told Wilfon that this happens way too often in Georgia and that he hoped this will send a message to other dealers.
On March 27, Ovalle will go back to court to hear his sentence. He could spend the rest of his life in jail.
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