A Denton woman indicted for murder in a 2023 fentanyl overdose case has been arrested again and is now being held in the Denton County Jail, according to county booking records.
Tabitha Lee Balent, 40, was booked into the Denton County Jail on October 8 on a murder charge, according to county jail records. She remains in custody and has not been released.
Authorities first arrested Balent in December 2023 after what officials described as a joint operation between the Denton Police Department, the Denton County Sheriff’s Office, and the U.S. Marshals Joint East Texas Fugitive Task Force. Law enforcement claimed she provided fentanyl-laced pills that caused the death of 29-year-old Corey Alan Culver of North Carolina.
Investigators alleged that Balent acquired counterfeit oxycodone pills from 39-year-old Raymond Hernandez, according to the city’s December 2023 press release.
“The continued threat of fentanyl in our community is very real,” Denton Police Chief Doug Shoemaker said in the release. “We must all remain vigilant in rooting out the sources of this drug before even more lives are taken from us.”
Hernandez has since pleaded guilty to murder and is serving an 18-year prison sentence for the same incident, the Denton Record-Chronicle reported.
Balent’s case is currently set for trial on December 15.
Her recent re-arrest on the murder charge reportedly followed her arrest in connection with a felony theft case involving stolen plumbing equipment valued at over $30,000.
Officers alleged that Balent and her boyfriend were involved in a September 14 theft in which a trailer containing specialized plumbing equipment was taken from a location on Colorado Boulevard, according to the Record-Chronicle report. Surveillance footage captured a man cutting the trailer’s chain and later returning with a woman in a white SUV to haul it away, according to police accounts.
Officers reportedly identified Balent after the trailer’s owner posted images from the surveillance footage online. The report stated that police later located the suspect vehicle and arrested Balent’s boyfriend, a 37-year-old Ponder man, on suspicion of evading arrest, along with other violations. He was later served with a felony theft warrant while in custody.
Police arrested Balent on September 29 for her alleged role in the theft, but she posted bond and was released the next day, the Record-Chronicle reported. When her bond company later revoked her bond on the previous separate murder charge, deputies arrested her again on October 8.
Public records reviewed by The Dallas Express show that Balent has a prior criminal history in Denton County. Under the name Tabitha Lee Clontz, she pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor fraud charge in 2018 and received deferred adjudication and probation. Court records show she completed that probation in 2020.
A LinkedIn profile viewed by The Dallas Express for a woman named Tabitha Balent of Denton lists her occupation as a waitress at The Junction.
Both Balent and her boyfriend remain in the Denton County Jail.
The Dallas Express will continue to monitor updates in the case.