Keansburg Man Dies Of Drug Overdose; Oceanport Couple Charged

KEANSBURG, NJ — A man and a woman from Oceanport were charged this week with causing the fatal overdose of a Keansburg man last year.

Raul Garcia, 36, of Keansburg, died on December 2, 2019.

George Cucuzella, 30, and Nicole Ricciardi, 32, Oceanport were taken into custody on Tuesday. The couple has been charged with first-degree strict liability for a drug-induced death.

At 12:21 a.m. on Dec. 2, Eatonton police were called for a report of a possible overdose victim in the room of an unnamed local motel. The responding officers located Garcia lying on the bathroom floor of Room 137. He was unconscious and not breathing. Despite the efforts of the Eatontown Police Department, the Eatontown First Aid Squad, and the MONOC Paramedics, Garcia was pronounced dead.

An autopsy determined he died of “acute combined drug toxicity due to fentanyl, acetyl fentanyl and heroin."

Eatontown police and the county prosecutor investigated, and say he purchased heroin twice on December 1, 2019, once at a gas station in Eatontown and once earlier that same day in the area of his hotel room, also in Eatontown.

Cucuzella, Ricciardi and another man who has since passed away, were all previously tied to the drug sales.

When his autopsy results came back, they were charged with the first-degree crime.

They are each facing up to twenty years in prison.