Cary and North Carolina overall have seen increases in opioid incidents this century. Statewide, opioid overdose fatalities rose 800% between 1999 and 2016 - from around 100 deaths to 1,300. Cary reported 11 on-the-scene opioid overdose deaths in 2017 and the same number in 2020, the year of Cofield's arrest.

A man has been sentenced in the 2022 death of his daughter from fentanyl, the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office said. According to the DA’s office, the man was sentenced to 11 years on one count of voluntary manslaughter.