John Nabors charged for frat brother Thomas Gleason’s fentanyl death at Florida bachelor party
An Alabama man has been arrested in connection with the tragic fentanyl-overdose death of his fraternity brother at a Florida bachelor party in May, officials said.
John David Nabors, 26, of Mountain Brook, is facing felony charges of distributing a drug causing death after giving best man Thomas Gleason cocaine laced with the lethal synthetic opiod at the Santa Rosa Beach bash.
Gleason, 26, of Ridgefield, Connecticut, suffered a fatal overdose. Three of his friends were rushed to an intensive care unit, but all survived.
The tightly knit group of fraternity brothers, all graduates of the University of Alabama, had traveled from across the country to convene in Florida to celebrate their unidentified friend’s marriage.
The groom, who did not ingest the tainted cocaine, was forced to delay the ceremony after the bachelor party poisonings.
Gleason’s death was attributed to “a lethal dose of fentanyl which was found in narcotics directly provided by John Nabors,” according to the Walton County Sheriff’s Office.
A grand jury indicted Nabors Tuesday, and he turned himself in on Wednesday morning.
Gleason’s shattered father said he wanted to publicize his son’s passing to warn others against drug use — and the spiraling fentanyl scourge.
“If any good can come of this fentanyl poisoning, if it could save one life going forward, I’m all for it,’’ Bob Gleason told AL.com.
Gleason said his son immediately collapsed after snorting a line of tainted cocaine — and three of his friends crumbled to the floor soon after him.
Gleason and his wife rushed to board a plane from Connecticut to Florida after learning their son was nearing death in a hospital bed.
“By the time we got to Charlotte (for a layover), the doctor was like, ‘Do you want us to keep him alive?’ That’s how it was,’’ he said.
When they finally reached their son’s bedside, he was on a ventilator.
“We took him off (Monday) morning and he was gone within 10 minutes,’’ he told the outlet.
Gleason, who returned to Connecticut after graduating from Alabama, had founded a real estate company prior to his death.
