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Lateef Reevey, 31, of Long Branch, was sentenced on Wednesday by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Lourdes Lucas as a result of a plea to first-degree strict liability for drug induced death, according to Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.
The charge stems from an overdose death last February of 25 year-old Lucy Yardley of Flanders in Tinton Falls, Gramiccioni said.
Reevey also received a five-year state prison sentence on an unrelated charge of conspiracy to possess a controlled dangerous substance, which will run concurrent to the strict liability charge, the prosecutor said on Friday.
Reevey pleaded guilty on Dec. 14, 2020, in connection with Yardley's fatal overdose.
At 6:07 p.m. on Feb. 21, 2020, Tinton Falls Police Department received a report of a possible overdose victim in a local motel room. Responding patrol officers found Yardley lying on the bathroom floor of Room 314. She was unconscious and not breathing. Despite the lifesaving efforts of Tinton Falls police, the Tinton Falls First Aid Squad, and the MONOC Paramedics, Yardley was pronounced dead, Gramiccioni said.
An investigation ultimately identified Reevey as having communicated with Yardley a day before her death.
On Feb. 22, 2020, police found Reevey in the parking lot of the same local motel. Reevey was found to be in possession of a quantity of heroin and cocaine, packaged for sale, as well as two cellular telephones, according to Gramiccioni.
As police confronted him, Reevey reportedly broke one of the two phones, which he had used to communicate with the victim, Gramiccioni said.
He was taken into custody and charged with two counts of third-degree possession of CDS, two counts of third-degree possession of CDS with intent to distribute, one count of third=degree conspiracy to distribute, one count of fourth=degree tampering with physical evidence and the disorderly persons offense of possession of drug paraphernalia, the prosecutor said.
This case was handled by Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Christopher J. Decker.
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