DENVER — A Colorado Springs mother has been sentenced to prison for dealing drugs to her 16-year-old son, who died of fentanyl toxicity.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado said Maria Davis-Conchie, 49, was sentenced on Wednesday to 10 years in federal prison and three years of supervised release. She took a plea agreement.
Based on that agreement, over the course of about one year leading up to Jan. 30, 2022, Davis-Conchie sold alprazolam (Xanax), a Schedule IV controlled substance, to her 16-year-old son and his teenage friends for $5 to $10 per pill. The substances came with a warning — she cautioned them not to use too many at one time, according to the plea agreement. The teens also obtained the Xanax from other sources.
Her son and his friends used the Xanax every weekend for a period of time.
Davis-Conchie said she assumed her son would use drugs no matter what, so she decided to sell the pills to him and his friends in what she felt was a "safe" manner, according to the plea agreement. She said she also provided them with marijuana, marijuana concentrate and acid (LSD), according to the plea agreement.
On Dec. 31, 2021, Davis-Conchie purchased Xanax bars and LSD and gave them to the teens. She said she made the purchase from Marlene McGuire, who is a co-defendant in this case and brought her son and two of his friends with her. At another time, Davis-Conchie brought her son to again meet with McGuire, as well as a co-defendant Douglas Floyd, to purchase fentanyl pills.
McGuire and Floyd then began selling drugs to all three teens in the months prior to the 16-year-old boy’s death.
A complaint stated that Davis-Conchie's son was hanging out with his two friends the night of Jan. 30, 2022, when they met with Floyd at a fire station on Bradley Circle to purchase four Percocet pills for $40. The document shows the boys consumed one of the pills together that evening before dropping off the 16-year-old at his home, where investigators believe he consumed another pill either later that night or the next morning, which caused him to overdose and die.
He was discovered unresponsive at his home on Jan. 31 and was declared dead at the scene. An autopsy on the boy concluded he died from “acute fentanyl and para-flourofentanyl toxicity,” according to the court documents.
Inside his room, Colorado Springs police officers found a small plastic baggie containing two blue pills, which were later tested and confirmed to contain para-fluourofentanyl. One of the two pills also had traces of fentanyl, acetaminophen, lidocaine, and xylazine, documents show.
A warrant was issued for Davis-Conchie’s arrest on Feb. 16 and she was arrested two days later. She was charged with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and para-fluorofentanyl resulting in death.
FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Mark Michalek said the mother started a chain of events that led to her son's death.
"This sentence is a consequence of her actions," he said. "We cannot ignore the devastation this drug continues to bring to countless lives here in Colorado and across the nation."
On Sept. 22, 2023, a federal jury convicted McGuire of distributing fentanyl and para-fluorofentanyl resulting in death. McGuire is set for sentencing on Jan. 19, 2024.
On Nov. 21, 2023, Floyd pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and para-fluorofentanyl resulting in death, and was sentenced to 157 months in federal prison.
