Pubdate: Thu, 22 Aug 2002
Source: Express-Times, The (PA)
Copyright: 2002 The Express-Times
Contact:  http://www.pennlive.com/expresstimes/today/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1489
Author: Peter Hall

JURY INDICTS PARENTS IN SON'S OVERDOSE DEATH

Prosecutor says Lebanon Township pair failed to try to prevent his death.

FLEMINGTON -- A Lebanon Township teen's parents and three of his friends 
will face charges stemming from his July 2001 drug overdose death, a 
Hunterdon County grand jury decided Tuesday.

Leonardo DiPasquale, 18, died July 7, 2001, at his parents' home after he 
took a cocktail of heroin and Xanax, a prescription drug used to treat 
anxiety. An autopsy showed DiPasquale died of a heroin overdose.

A seven-month investigation led authorities to three friends who allegedly 
provided the drugs DiPasquale took before his death.

Erica L. Poch, 18, of Clinton and Christine M. Curtin, 21, of High Bridge 
were charged in February under the New Jersey law that holds drug 
distributors strictly liable for drug-induced deaths. Also charged with 
drug distribution in February was James W. Bowkley, 46, of Califon.

The grand jury on Tuesday affirmed the state's case against Poch, Curtin 
and Bowkley. It also returned indictments for DiPasquale's parents, Mary 
and Lewis Hockenbury of 645 Winding Brook Road in Lebanon Township.

Mary and Lewis Hockenbury face one count of reckless manslaughter. Acting 
Hunterdon County Prosecutor Steven Lember said Wednesday that DiPasquale's 
parents failed to take action that would have prevented his death.

"The theory is that the Hockenburys were well aware that their son was in 
the throes of a heroin overdose," Lember said. "Knowing that, they should 
have taken steps that reasonable parents would have taken under those 
circumstances, and our allegation is that they did not."

The Hockenburys have not been arrested but will receive summonses to appear 
in court, Assistant Hunterdon County Prosecutor Katherine Errickson said.

Lember said Wednesday the indictment against the Hockenburys is remarkable 
because the grand jury decided on its own to extend charges in the teen's 
death to his parents.

Authorities say the night before DiPasquale's death, Poch, Curtin and 
DiPasquale gave Bowkley a ride to his home. During the ride, Bowkley gave 
DiPasquale some Xanax pills, authorities allege.

After leaving Bowkley at his home, the three headed to Plainfield, N.J., 
where Curtin and Poch bought heroin from a dealer they knew. Authorities 
allege the women gave the heroin to DiPasquale.

That evening, DiPasquale lost consciousness and Poch and Curtin took him to 
his parents' Winding Brook Road home and left him there. A relative found 
DiPasquale the next morning and called paramedics, but DiPasquale later was 
pronounced dead at the scene.

Poch and Curtin were indicted Tuesday on one count each of first- degree 
strict liability for a drug-induced death, second-degree manslaughter and 
third-degree distribution of a controlled dangerous substance. Curtin is 
free on $50,000 bail. Poch is lodged in Hunterdon County Jail.

Bowkley was indicted on one count of third-degree distribution of a 
controlled dangerous substance. He is free on his own recognizance.

The strict liability charge is equivalent to a first-degree manslaughter 
charge and carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence. The second-degree 
manslaughter charge carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence.

If convicted on the strict liability and manslaughter counts, Poch, Curtin 
and the Hockenburys would be required to serve 85 percent of their 
sentences before becoming eligible for parole.

DiPasquale was one of three people charged in the fatal heroin overdose of 
16-year-old Gregory Baltz. The High Bridge boy died after taking heroin at 
his home Jan. 5, 2001.

Kelly Jean Dixon, 19, of High Bridge pleaded guilty to drug distribution 
charges and was sentenced in June to three years' probation and ordered to 
seek long-term drug addiction treatment. Brandon Winters, 20, of Pohatcong 
Township pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter and was sentenced to 
seven years in prison earlier this year. DiPasquale was facing charges of 
possession with intent to distribute.

Errickson said DiPasquale's and Baltz's deaths are not directly related 
although some of the people charged in the deaths know each other.

"I don't know that they were childhood friends, but they were a group of 
people who were using heroin up there and unfortunately two of them ended 
up dying," she said.
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