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Dealer Gets 20 Years For Fatal Drug Sale

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 17, 2007

Updated: 10/17/2007 02:53 pm

Previous Coverage: Charges Filed In Overdose Death

TAMPA - Brandon Erwin and Andrew Culver traveled together in the glitzy drug world, and both eventually wanted out.

Brandon Erwin

Culver told his mother he had an appointment to see a psychologist who might help him get over his cocaine addiction.

Erwin traded his drug-dealing, celebrity-studded life, serving professional athletes and other VIP customers at the Blue Martini nightclub, for Bible studies and family.

For both men, their decisions to break free of drugs came too late.

Culver's conversation with his mother, she says, was hours before he died of a drug overdose at 35, leaving behind a 5-week-old daughter and a young son.

Erwin changed his life after his arrest for drug dealing, including selling Culver the cocaine and methadone that ended his life.

On Wednesday, Erwin, 30, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison, the minimum term for his conviction for criminal culpability in the drug-overdose death.

Members of both men's families assembled in a federal courtroom to tell a judge about them, about their gifts and what was lost in November 2005 when Culver's life slipped away in a hotel room.

"He now prays for people in his old life," said Walter Willet, who described himself as Erwin's spiritual adviser. "He is remorseful for the things he did before he submitted his life to Christ. He has radically changed."

Culver's widow, Christina, is left trying to explain to her children why they no longer have a father. Her son, Logan, doesn't quite understand. Madison will "never get to meet her father," she said. "That's what kills me the most."

After her husband died, everything in her life "turned completely upside down," she said. "I lost my house, my cars, everything. Meanwhile, Brandon Erwin continued dealing drugs after Andy's death, not caring."

According to evidence in Erwin's trial, eight days after Culver was found dead, Erwin was selling ecstasy to an informant.

Erwin sold the informant ecstasy and also said he could get methadone, according to the evidence. But he offered a warning. Methadone is potent, he said. Do your research, he told the informant, Stephen Wilkinson, according to a tape of a conversation played in the trial.

"I got my boy that," Erwin said. "My boy overdosed on the … [expletive] I got him."

On Wednesday, Erwin told U.S. District Court Judge James Moody that hearing the evidence in his trial, "I sat here ashamed of the person I was and upset at the person I was."

He said his drug-dealing days were "a wasted time in my life. …That life ended the day I was arrested and turned to my family and church for unconditional acceptance."

"I would like to apologize," Erwin said, "to everyone who I affected by my actions, including my family." He said he hopes to live a positive life upon his release from prison.

Culver's mother, Celeste Rogers, said her son had a lot left to give. He was smart, funny and generous and considered Erwin one of his best friends.

"I really miss talking to my son," she said. "My son's life is over, and it's really a shame because he had a lot more to do with his life. He talked to me the day he died. He told me he had an appointment with a drug counselor, a psychologist who specializes in drug treatment."

Culver never made it to that appointment.

"He did have an addiction to cocaine," Rogers said. "But the methadone, that was you, Brandon. That's what killed him. It's not right. It's not right at all."

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837 or esilvestrini@tampatrib.com.

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