Middlesex Man Indicted In Brick Man's Overdose Death: Report

A Middlesex County man has been indicted on charges he supplied the fentanyl-laced heroin that caused a Brick Township man’s overdose death last December.

Jesse Hay, 26, of South Plainfield, was indicted Tuesday on six drug offenses and one count of causing the drug-induced death of Anthony Busby, according to NJ.com.

In an April news release from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office and Brick Township police, spokesman Al Della Fave said Hay had been charged with strict liability for a drug-induced death, reckless manslaughter, distribution of fentanyl, possession of fentanyl with the intent to distribute and possession of fentanyl.

Busby, 24, was found unconscious when Brick police and EMS were called to a Marilyn Drive address shortly before 7 p.m. on Dec. 19, 2014, Della Fave said. Busby was pronounced dead at 7:18 p.m. by Dr. Hinfey from Newark Beth Israel Hospital via telemetry.

Investigators found several white wax folds stamped with “730 Virus” in green ink and another 10 wax folds stamped “Strike Dead” with the picture of the grim reaper in red and black ink at the scene, Della Fave said.

Hay was arrested Dec. 23 on the drug possession and distribution charges and has been in the Middlesex County Jail since then. Bail on the strict liability charge was set at $250,000, no 10 percent.

Busby’s autopsy, conducted by Dr. Ian Hood of the Ocean County Medical Examiner’s Office, found his death was caused by an excessive amount of fentanyl in his system. The medical examiner’s report also confirmed that the wax folds stamped “730 Virus” and “Strike Dead” both contained fentanyl.

Fentanyl is a powerful painkiller that gives heroin greater potency when mixed with it, and it was linked to a number of heroin overdoses in 2014.

The NJ.com report said a second man, Jordan Madsen of Edison, was indicted on possession, possession with intent to distribute and distribution of fentanyl.

The strict liability prosecution is one of several being pressed by Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato as part of the office’s multi-pronged effort to combat the heroin problem in the county.