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Ryan Thompson, 35, was sentenced on Tuesday, May 14 to seven years in state prison, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer announced in a news release. He must serve nearly six years before he can be eligible for parole under the No Early Release Act.
Thompson pleaded guilty on Monday, Mar. 4 to manslaughter in the death of a 55-year-old man in Berkeley Township. Police responded to a report of an unresponsive man in a home on Torrey Pines Drive on Friday, Sept. 29, 2023.
Officers found the man dead from what the Ocean County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed was a fentanyl overdose. Investigators said Thompson, 38-year-old Michael Wormann of Toms River, and 61-year-old Tina Martinez of Trenton sold fentanyl to the man on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023.
Wormann was charged on Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023, with distribution of fentanyl, possession of less than one-half ounce of fentanyl with intent to distribute, and possession of fentanyl. Martinez was charged on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023, with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl.
Wormann and Martinez pleaded guilty to distribution of fentanyl on Monday, Mar. 18. They were scheduled for sentencing on Friday, June 7.
Prosecutors said they recommended sentences of 364 days in Ocean County Jail for Wormann and Martinez as a condition of probation.
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