Tyler man receives 40-year sentence in fentanyl death

TYLER – Our news partner KETK is reporting that a Tyler man has pleaded guilty to two drug-related charges on Monday and accepted a 40 year prison sentence in connection with a 2024 fentanyl death.

Calvin Thomas Spencer, 28, was intially charged with first-degree murder, after Michael Crone, a Tyler-native, died after taking fentanyl pills. The Smith County Sheriff’s Office said Spencer was a barber at a truck stop in the 400 block of East-Northeast Loop 323 in Tyler where he was known to give Crone haircuts.

An arrest affidavit also revealed that Spencer sold Crone M-30 fentanyl pills and later died on Oct. 5, 2024.

According to an autopsy and toxicology report from the Forensic Medical of Texas at Tyler, Crone’s cause of death was listed as mixed alprazolam, diazepam, codeine and fentanyl toxicity and cause of death was ruled as fentanyl toxicity.

“Spencer made admissions to purchasing the pills on the previous night with cash and a Cash App. Spencer also admitted to purchasing fentanyl pills at least on four other occasions within the last couple of months,” the sheriff’s office said. “Spencer also admitted to having previously sold M-30 pills to Michael Crone, but that Mike had previously died.”