Pubdate: Sat, 06 Nov 1999 Source: Tampa Tribune (FL) Copyright: 1999, The Tribune Co. Contact: http://www.tampatrib.com/ Forum: http://tampabayonline.net/interact/welcome.htm Author: Jos Patio Girona and Sherri Ackerman, of The Tampa Tribune WOMAN CHARGED WITH MURDER IN SEPTEMBER'S HEROIN OVERDOSE TAMPA - Deputies use a new tactic: If you sell drugs to someone who overdoses and dies, you are responsible. Sheriff's deputies put a new law to use Friday when they charged a 19-year-old woman with murder after an acquaintance died of a heroin overdose. Amy Elizabeth Wytiaz, of 5304 Reflections Place Court, told deputies she supplied 20-year-old Ismael Quinones with $40 worth of heroin two months ago, then watched him use it, sheriff's reports said. On Sept. 7, Quinones, of 5618 Pinnacle Heights Circle, Apt. 202, was found dead in Carrollwood. A medical examiner ruled the death as heroin intoxication. Wytiaz, also known as Crystal, works at the Pink Pony adult club. Her criminal record includes an Oct. 30 arrest on a prostitution charge. Wytiaz was being held Friday at the Orient Road Jail without bail. Quinones had been arrested last year on charges including possession of marijuana with intent to sell. He received probation and was taking part in a community supervision program, records show. The sheriff's office charged Wytiaz using legislation passed last year. The law allows for charging a drug provider with murder if the user overdoses and dies. ``We are sending the message. If you supply the drugs and the person dies, you're culpable,'' said sheriff's Sgt. Rod Reder. In July, the sheriff's office charged three people with first-degree murder; deputies say two supplied a drug, which the third injected into her husband. In another case, a person was charged with manslaughter with culpable negligence, accused of supplying 10 milligrams of an antidepressant to a friend who later overdosed. The cases haven't gone to trial. Ten people in Hillsborough County have died this year of heroin intoxication; 13 died in 1998. Heroin's popularity is surging again because people don't remember how it ruined lives in the 1960s, said Sgt. Rob Bullara of criminal investigations. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea