Manchester Man Admits Supplying Fentanyl In Man's Overdose Death

MANCHESTER, NJ — A Manchester Township man pleaded guilty Monday to supplying the fentanyl that killed another Manchester man in August 2021, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Tuesday.

Dandre Tubbs, 33, pleaded guilty before Superior Court Judge Lisa A. Puglisi to manslaughter and distribution of fentanyl in connection with the death of a 35-year-old man in Manchester on Aug. 16, 2021, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 5, and prosecutors will recommend a term of seven years in prison on the manslaughter charge subject to the No Early Release Act, and seven years on the distribution charge. Tubbs also pleaded guilty to an unrelated charge of possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute, and a four-year prison term is to be recommended for that charge. The sentences are to run concurrently, Billhimer said.

Manchester police were called to a home on Aug. 16, 2021, for a report of an unresponsive person and found the 35-year-old dead from an apparent drug overdose, Billhimer said.

Investigators determined Tubbs supplied fentanyl to the victim on Aug. 15, and a toxicology report confirmed the presence of fentanyl in the victim’s system. The Ocean County Medical Examiner’s Office determined the fentanyl found in the victim’s system was the cause of his death, and Tubbs was arrested Aug. 19. He has been held in the Ocean County Jail since then.

Senior Assistant Prosecutor Kristin Pressman and Assistant Prosecutor Victoria Veni have been handling the case. The Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit, Narcotics Strike Force, and High Tech Crime Unit, the Manchester Township Police Department Detective Bureau, Narcotics Enforcement Team, K-9 Unit, and Patrol Division, the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit, and the Ocean County Medical Examiner’s Office investigated the case.