CONCORD, N.H. – A man has been sentenced in New Hampshire federal court to serve 11½ years in prison after pleading guilty to distributing fentanyl to a woman who died from using the drug.

Court documents say 32-year-old Benjamin Rogers, formerly of Newmarket, worked at a restaurant in Portsmouth with Cassie Clermont. In 2014, he gave her drugs. Clermont left the restaurant and went to her apartment in Portsmouth, where she was found dead the next day.

Fentanyl and drug paraphernalia were found near Clermont’s body. The New Hampshire Medical Examiner later found that the 30-year-old Clermont died of acute fentanyl intoxication.

Prosecutors said Rogers falsely claimed he had obtained heroin from Clermont and deleted text messages that were later recovered.


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