Man Charged With Strict Liability In Toms River Overdose Death

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Lacey Township man has been charged under New Jersey's strict liability law in connection with the overdose death of a woman in Toms River last November, authorities said Friday.

Jehmar Barrett, 34, of Lacey Township, has been charged with strict liability for a drug-induced death in connection with the death of a 35-year-old woman, who was found dead of an overdose in a home on Alabama Avenue on Nov. 24, 2020, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer and Toms River Police Chief Mitchell Little said in a joint news release.

Police were called to the home for a report of an unresponsive woman and found the victim, whose name was not released.

The investigation by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit and Toms River Police Department Detective Bureau determined Barrett sold the victim heroin and cocaine on Nov. 23, 2020, authorities said.

Barrett initially was charged on Nov. 24, with distribution of heroin; distribution of cocaine; conspiracy to distribute heroin; possession of heroin; possession of cocaine, and eluding, the prosecutor's office said.

A toxicology analysis found fentanyl in the woman's system, and laboratory analysis of the drugs Barrett is accused of selling to her determined the substance thought to be heroin was instead fentanyl and matched the fentanyl found in the woman's system, the prosecutor's office.

The Ocean County medical examiner ruled the fentanyl found in the woman's system was the cause of her death, the prosecutor's office said.

Barrett was charged Thursday, and turned himself in at the Toms River Police Department on Friday morning, the prosecutor's office said.

He is being held at the Ocean County Jail pending a detention hearing.

The prosecutor's Major Crime Unit and Toms River police received assistance from the Prosecutor’s Office Victim Witness Advocacy Unit, the Berkeley Township Police Department, the Lacey Township Police Department, and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit in addition to the county medical examiner, the prosecutor's office said.

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