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After 40-year-old Dean A. DeJesus overdosed in Maksim Stankevich's Bensalem apartment on Sept. 16, he wrapped the victim's body with a rope and blanket and left him behind a red dumpster of a nearby apartment complex, according to the Bucks County District Attorney's Office.
Stankevich was also charged with theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property after taking DeJesus' cellphone, backpack, and two T-shirts, authorities said.
Officers discovered the body shortly before 3 p.m. at the Townhomes at Gateway apartment complex.
In an interview with detectives on Oct. 5, Stankevich told them that DeJesus had been at his apartment on Johns Court and asked to use the bathroom, according to a criminal complaint.
Stankevich later found DeJesus dead on the bathroom floor.
He then removed DeJesus from his apartment and placed him in a garbage can, which he used to move the body to the apartment complex, approximately half a mile away, the complaint states.
There, he left the body behind the dumpster.
Camera footage from the apartment complex confirms the incident happened between 4:43 a.m. and 5:50 a.m. that day, authorities said.
In the Oct. 5 interview, Stankevich was found to be in possession of the victim’s Motorola G7 cell phone, a Puma backpack, and two T-shirts, all worth $145, authorities said.
“With the immunity that the good Samaritan law provides people for reporting drug overdoses, this defendant's failure to report Mr. DeJesus's overdose to authorities is inexcusable,” District Attorney Matt Weintraub said.
“Drug overdose or not, everyone's life matters to someone, no matter the manner in which that life was lost. Once deceased, Mr. DeJesus deserved to be treated with more dignity that he was given.”
Stankevich is being held on a probation detainer and will be arraigned at a later date.
He has a connection to Clifton, New Jersey, according to court records.
The case was investigated by Bensalem Police Detectives Aaron Woelkers and Stephen Clark, and it has been assigned to Deputy District Attorney Marc J. Furber for prosecution.
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