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Ryan Thompson, 35, pleaded guilty on Monday, Mar. 4 to manslaughter, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer announced in a news release on Wednesday, Mar. 6. He was charged 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. When officers arrived, they found the man already dead from what the Ocean County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed was a fentanyl overdose.
Investigators said Thompson and two other people sold fentanyl to the man on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023. Michael Wormann, 38, of Toms River, and Tina Martinez, 61, of Trenton, were also arrested in the man's death.
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 were released on summonses. Thompson has been held in the Ocean County Jail since he was charged on Friday, Oct. 20, 2023.
Prosecutors said they'll seek a sentence of seven years in state prison for Thompson. He would be eligible for parole in nearly six years under the No Early Release Act.
Thompson was scheduled for sentencing on Friday, May 3.
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