In the eyes of the law, Michael G. McIntyre has been involved in drugs since 2009, when he was 23 and was arrested on pot possession. He wasn’t prosecuted. Three years later he was prosecuted on a felony possession of methadone–the heroin substitute for recovering addicts–without a prescription. He went through a pre-trial intervention program, completed it, and the charges were dropped. He was again arrested on fentanyl possession with intent to sell in 2020. On Monday, in connection with those sales, a grand jury indicted him on first-degree murder in the Aug. 11, 2020 death of 33-year-old Chelsea Lenore Price.
McIntyre is charged with a capital felony, potentially exposing him to the death penalty, though no drug dealer charged with murder in Florida since the law changed, enabling that charge, has faced the death penalty. In Flagler, Joseph Colon, the first individual locally to face a first-degree murder charge after selling the heroin that killed a Palm Coast resident, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 30 years in prison last year.
Several other people have since been indicted on similar charges. On Monday, Allyson Dawn Bennett, 39, formerly of Belleaire Drive in Palm Coast, was scheduled to be sentenced after pleading to manslaughter in the death by overdose of Michael Joseph Burnett Jr., 33, in June 2018, from fentanyl. Bennett pleaded to manslaughter, a second-degree felony, and was to face from five to 15 years in prison. The sentencing, however, was rescheduled to next February. Bennett remains at the Flagler County jail. (See: “Flagler Grand Jury Issues 4 Indictments for Murder, 2 More in Drug Deaths, 2 in Killing of Deon O’Neal Jenkins.”)
Florida passed the law enabling prosecution of drug dealers on murder charges in 2019. It has been controversial in public debate and advocacy circles, and in some cases such charges have been dropped. But the approach has been frequently used in Florida and in federal prosecutions.
McIntyre has been at the jail since Aug. 11, when he was booked on a charge of trafficking methamphetamines. An undercover operation led to that arrest after McIntyre sold the drug to an undercover agent. That charge alone is a first degree felony with a maximum prison term of 30 years. The State Attorney’s office filed the charge on Sept. 9. He was served the indictment on the murder charge dating back to the August 2020 incident at the jail.
That night Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies had arrested McIntyre, 34 at the time, on felony charges of selling a controlled substance and illegally using a two-way communication device–McIntyre’s cell phone. Detectives had obtained a phone from a “source”–apparently, Price–that contained Facebook messages from McIntyre. “The content of the communication was consistent with drug sales between the defendant and the source, with the defendant being the supplier of fentanyl/heroin and the source being the buyer,” his arrest report states. McIntyre was arrested subsequent to what had been staged as an undercover buy. McIntyre himself identified the bag he had with him as fentanyl, according to his arrest report.
He told deputies that he had added Benadryl to the fentanyl “to not only increase his profits, but also to prevent the source from dying once the substance was ingested,” according to his arrest report. He told deputies he’d used fentanyl himself in the past and had “died” from it, but was brought back with three dosses of narcan, the neutralizing agent that helps restore breathing.
Price was not that fortunate. Earlier that evening, deputies were dispatched to 29 Edmond Place in Palm Coast in response to an overdose. Price’s stepfather had called 911 after finding her unresponsive. A paramedic pronounced her deceased. There were no illegal drugs at the scene, just prescription drugs, though Price had struggled with addiction previously. But her death was later attributed to a fentanyl overdose. The drug was allegedly tied to a sale from McIntyre.
“I want to thank the Grand Jury, the prosecutor, and all the detectives for their excellent work in obtaining this indictment,” Sheriff Rick Staly said in a release issued this morning. “The poison sold to the victim by McIntyre wound up taking her life and the result was tragic. Let this be a reminder to drug dealers to keep your poison out of Flagler County and know that we investigate every overdose death as a murder.”
McIntyre, whose jail booking lists his address as 12 Brian Lane in Palm Coast, is being held on no bond. A public defender was appointed to represent him.
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Anthony Peavey says
Mike didn’t “bring this poison” to palm coast. We grew up here. We went to FPC. We rode our bikes in the middle of the night from the B section all around the city. He cooked at sonnys and the meeting place and outback. This was a normal kid that got lost in the scene provided by palm coast. You have no structure for young adults to point them in a positive direction. Dealing heroin only works if there’s a market for it. Congrats.
Lance Carroll says
As an adult, no longer a kid, the choice to supply/ traffic deadly drugs has no bearing on the environment. Respectfully, I agree that there are very few positive programs for the youth in Flagler County. In turn, the person charged in this case is well into adulthood and knew the deadliness of the drugs first hand. I grew up around Flagler County, rode my bicycle, did the kids stuff, had very few positive youth programs available to me…we all have choices to make and the potential consequences of those choices. May we all, especially adults, realize the potential outcome of ill thought choices. None of us are perfect…although we, mostly, have the freedom to choose.
Common Sense says
Blame it on the county….
Blame it on the town…
Blame it on the school district…
Hell blame it on Saturday morning cartoons…
Just as all the other “movements” me to etc…. Let’s start the blame it on movement.
The country where there is no self responsibility at any level. There’s always an out, excuse, a reason that someone else or something else caused this to happen, not the individual.
The REALITY of it all is ultimately the responsibility and neglect lies in the parents and the individual.
Wheres the Tylenol…
A.j says
From what I can see, he is grown. He should know right from wrong. In my book no excuses.
Amanda says
Mike did not sell this person these drugs. Just because someone has drugs on them does not mean automatically they are selling drugs. Sometimes drug users call eachother and help eachother out in desperate times. The people begging dealers for their next fix shouldn’t be completely put on the dealers as everyone has a choice whether or not they should use. Its the person who overdosed fault as much as it is the person it originally came from. Let’s find the BIG dealer since there’s no way Mike got his small amount y’all found on him out of thin air. There’s a bigger problem and you keep going after the smaller problems. An addict will find a way to get their fix no matter how many people you put in jail. There’s no way out of addiction besides jails, institutions and DEATH. Good job you put another addict in prison when you should be offering him help. I hope to god Mike doesn’t have to spend the rest of his life in prison. I know this whole thing is a wake up call to him
Coleen says
You have no idea what went into getting him arrested, I do as I’m a family member of Chelsea. Watch what you say as you’re ignorant to the facts. He needs to rot in prison. Did you even bother reading his interview comnents?
Common Sense says
Unbelievable…
The behaviors of all parties involved cannot be rationalized.
Whether he was using, dealing, or both every individual is responsible for there own actions.
Wheres the Tylenol…
Florida Girl says
Addiction is a chemical solution to a Spiritual disease, the disease being addiction, and the drugs are the side-effect of it. I want to tell this family I am so sorry for their loss. No parent should ever have to bury their child – of course they want accountability. You wouldn’t? In my opinion, Michael McIntyre rights ended when his decision (of selling drugs) cost another their life. At one point in my life, I was in active addiction, AND the drug dealer. In both settings, I danced a double edged blade. I knew, one day, intuitions, prison’s, or death would come knocking. I accepted this multiple times a day and continued my path. Drug dealers are NO different then your local bar in the sense – they are in the business of destruction, and disease, AND death – death comes in to many forms and faces. And furthermore, those in the business of disease, are in this profession by, choice, AND this is the consequence of that action. Just like the addict has to get through every day full of triggers, without using behaviors. When we use behaviors, this is potentially the end result of that choice.
I do hope this family finds justice for the loss of their son.
Brad says
It would be nice if they shut down the southern border to prevent this poison from entering the country. This government has let everyone down, we now have two lives ruined because a political party didn’t enforce the law.
Common Sense says
Oh that’s right… this is Joe Biden’s fault !
What was I thinking of course it couldn’t have been any other of the 45 elected Presidents or the congress or senates during those years that could have contributed to this issue.
It definitely can’t be contribute it to this young mans upbringing.
As soon as Joe Biden turned the door knob to the Oval Office he became the root cause to all issues.
What we see happening in this story is happening all across this country and the root cause isn’t federal or local politics. It isn’t federal or local laws.
The root cause is the deterioration of the American family and it’s morals and values.
Wheres the Tylenol….
nevergop says
The root cause is #1: greed, profits, MONEY 2. Easy highs
Common Sense says
Agreed , which contributes directly to the deterioration of the American family.
Wheres the Tylenol….